


Louder than Words

by Zemmiphobia



Series: To Raise a Child [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Accidental Courtship, Alien Culture, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anal Sex, Blade of Marmora!Keith, Courtship, Established Relationship, Family, Idiots in Love, Keith raised by Blade of Marmora AU, M/M, Near Future, Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, Not canon compliant as of S3, Older!Paladins, Panic Attacks, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Rimming, Sex Toys, Team Dynamics, Threesome - M/M/M, gen until the last chapter if that's not your thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-25
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-10-10 09:20:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10434567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zemmiphobia/pseuds/Zemmiphobia
Summary: Drunk hitting on your teammates is nothing new, right? Its practically a right of passage! And if Lance was being honest, this was probably his third or fourth time. In any case, he's experienced enough to know that if you work hard enough, things don't have to dissolve into an awkward mess of avoiding eye contact and dodging people in the hallway. Of course, it turns out that when one of your teammates is half-alien the usual rules don't always apply.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of a series. You can read them out of order, no problem, but some of the details of Galra courtship will make more sense if you read the other stories as well.
> 
> *Revised chapter posted 6/17/17

“Ugh, I am never drinking again.” Lance pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes, trying to block out the light stabbing into his brain. “Seriously, goodbye Drunk Lance, you had a good run but this is so not worth it.” Groaning, he gave up and just let his head slump to the table in front of him. Above him, Hunk hummed distractedly. Lance pulled his face off the wood far enough to glare at his best friend. “Did you hear me? I’m vowing never to drink again. I think that’s worth more than a ‘uh huh’.”

“See you say that,” Hunk agreed, not taking his eyes off the notes in front of him, “but we all know that by the end of the week, you’ll be complaining about how sober Lance never has any fun and you know what would be great? Consuming Coran’s entire stock of Vi’orn wine.”

“Lies and slander.” Lance hissed, pressing his face down again. “I’m serious. Hangovers were fun in the garrison when all you had to worry about was pissing off a teacher, which was actually sort of hilarious—

“Remember the Mid-winter dance in third year? I didn’t know people could turn that color.”

“Exactly, _hilarious_.” Lance waved a hand at the huge crowd of people in front of them, milling about as they waited for Allura’s speech to start. “Diplomatic functions, however, fucking suck.”

“It’s not the Tiikia fault that your after-party turned into a six hour game of drunk truth of dare that only ended because you passed out in Keith’s pillow fort.”

Lance jerked up, horrified to feel heat creeping into his cheeks.

“Truth or— we _did not_! Do I look like Ana?”

“No, not that it matters because Ana could hold her wine better than you when she was ten. And using your little sister as an example only works if you’ve actually beat her in a drinking contest.”

“She totally cheated.” Lance glared at the table, crossing his arms petulantly.

“Well, it was her wedding. I think she’s allowed.”

“Just for that, I’m telling her you want a rematch. And anyway, how do _you_ know? You called it in before we even hit single digits.”

Hunk grinned, pulling his eyes away from his work long enough to give Lance a look that had been honed by seventeen years of friendship.

“Oh god.” Lance rubbed his eyes again. “I thought Pidge promised not to do that anymore! They pinky swore!”

“They added an amendment for embarrassing parties. Nice dancing by the way, nice to see those dance lessons really paid off. Or years of practicing to Madonna in your bathroom, I guess”

“Oh, fuck off.” Then, after a long pause. “Uh, _which_ Madonna song?”

Hunk gave him another look.

“You know exactly which song, don’t even try to deny it.” He smirked over Lance’s tiny wail of despair. “Don’t worry about it, there was music, you got Keith to do it with you, and no one—

“ _Keith_?! Keith _danced_ with me?”

Hunk paused midsentence, mouth hanging open for a second before he frowned.

“What? Don’t tell me you don’t remember? Dude, did you _black out_?”

“No! Yes! Ok, a tiny bit at the end.”

“ _Lance_.”

“It’s fine, it’s not like I could go anywhere and there’s not exactly a ton of snow on this planet.”

“… Fine. But next time I’m getting Pidge to strap a blood monitor to your arm.”

“Don’t be such a mother hen and besides, I already told you I’m never getting drunk again.”

“That’s not really the po—

“Hey, sorry to interrupt,” Said Pidge as they came up behind the table, looking absolutely not sorry at all, “but Shiro says Allura needs us on the front line. We’re doing that circle jerk thing.”

“ _Networking_.” Hunk stressed, shoving his tablet into his bag. “We’re _networking_.”

“Same thing.” Pidge waved their hand airily. “Standing around talking about how great we are.” They turned to smile at Lance. “How’s the headache? I could see you crying from across the room.”

It was truly a miracle of evolution, Lance thought as he pushed himself to his feet, that such a tiny person could look so terrifying.

“How much for you to delete the evidence and never speak of it again?” He asked, falling into step behind them as the they made their way to where the other half of their team was waiting at the front of the room. Pidge hummed thoughtfully, widening their eyes to an almost painful degree of innocence.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” They said sweetly.

“Yes, yes, you’re so reformed, butter wouldn’t melt in your mouth, _Hunk already told me,_ so just tell me what I owe.”

“Too late, the vid’s already gone.”

Lance paused, almost knocking into Hunk who was trying to move past him.

“Oh, that’s… unexpectedly nice of you, Pidge, thanks.”

Pidge stopped to blink up at him owlishly. They opened their mouth, closed it, and then gave Lance a smile that was even more terrifying than the last one.

“No problem.” They said before turning and heading for the other side of the line. Lance watched them go, a creeping sense of uneasy crawling up his spine.

“How much money do you think candid celebrity videos make on the alien black market?” He asked no one in particular as he shuffled into place next to Keith. The red paladin jerked, turning to look at him.

“What?”

“Uh, nothing, ignore that.”

Keith shrugged, as if to ask why Lance would expect him to do differently. After a moment of silence, Lance began to fiddle with the metal cuff of his armor, trying to sneak glances at his teammate. Keith didn’t _look_ like a guy who had watched him shake his ass to classical pop. No smirking, no side-eyes, no… anything. If he had seen Keith drunkenly working it, he’d… well, after he got finished searing the image into the back of eyes, he’d never let him hear the end of it. Lance blinked, realizing that he had begun to stare and that Keith was staring back.

“…what?” asked the smaller man and it should have been defensive but instead it sounded… odd.

 _Shit,_ Lance thought morosely, _he does remember and he’s actually being nice about it._ There went all his plans to return the favor. Sighing, he started to reply when the blaring of horns cut him off. The two jumped, turning to watch as Allura took the stage. As the music died down and the Queen’s voice dropped into the rhythmic pattern of public speaking, Lance leaned towards Keith.

“I was just wondering why you two look, uh, not-hungover.” He lied in a quiet whisper, barely loud enough to be heard.

Keith smirked which had the odd effect of making Lance feel better about the whole thing. Things were right in the world when Keith was being a smug asshole.

“Shiro switched to water halfway through.” The other paladin explained, equally quiet.

“Oh my god,” Lance moaned, shooting at look at their leader who was smiling and waving at a pack of screaming children in the front row of the crowd. “How is he so good at adulting?”

“Shiro was born old, he was saving for retirement at five.” Keith confided with a smirk, eyes a little lower than what was socially acceptable on most planets. “He showed me when he was helping me with my finance homework.”

“I bet he washes his sheets every three months and goes to bed at ten.” Lance whispered, half in awe, half horrified.

“Every month, and yes.”

They both started snickering in a rare moment of camaraderie. As they laughed, Shiro glanced back and smiled as if had heard them. His attention was quickly pulled away however, leaving the two to their conversation.

“What about you?” Lance asked when the humor had died down.

“Perks of being half-alien.” Keith explained, “Don’t have to worry about blood poisoning when you have two livers.”

Lance stared at him and then, stupidly, dropped his gaze to Keith’s stomach as if he could see through his armor.

“You’re fucking kidding me.”

Keith’s smirk widened, tapping a finger against his left side, just below his rib cage.

“Nope, two livers and two hearts. Maybe when we’re done here, I’ll let you take another feel.”

Lance froze.

There was something… something about that sentence that seemed familiar. Pushing past the throbbing pain in his temples, he racked his brain trying to think of where he had heard that before.

_‘It’s like a baby bird’_

His own voice drifted out of the painful haze, rubbing across his mind like shards of glass. He could dimly remember… being warm. And…

 _Oh shit, shit, shit_. What had he done last night?! He hadn’t… had he? He stared at Keith but other than the oddly flirty smirk, which was rapidly turning into a frown, he didn’t look like he had been hit on by an annoying drunk. So no, he hadn’t. But he had apparently gotten really handsy. _Never again_ , he promised himself.

Out loud, he muttered “I’m good, thanks,” and leaned away.

“What’s _that_ supposed to mean?” Keith asked, voice almost lost in the sudden cheering of the crowd. Lance turned away to smile painfully and clap as Shiro stepped up to take Allura’s place.

“It doesn’t _mean_ anything.” He muttered and then paused, realizing that Keith probably thought he was disgusted. “My head just really hurts,” he explained, smiling awkwardly. “I really shouldn’t have gotten so drafted.”

“You didn’t have a problem last night.” Keith snapped, crossing his arms over his chest and dropping into his familiar defensive stance. “What, not interested now th—

“ _Dude_ , you don’t need to throw— I was really drunk, ok?” Despite the fact that they were both whispering, Lance could see people starting to glance at them. He sighed, running a hand through his hair in frustration. “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… go that far.”

Instead of looking pleased at his apology, however, the scowl on Keith’s face only got darker.

“You’re _sorry_?!” He asked and yep, people were definitely turning to look at them. Lance groaned. So much for Keith being nice about it. Guess it had been too much to hope that Keith would let Lance hitting on him and his boyfriend go.

“Keith, I— “

His plea was lost in the sudden crack as gunfire slashed through the air. Everyone on the stage dropped to the floor, rolling to duck behind the large stone podium as the crowd screamed. Lance jumped to Allura’s side, where she was clutching a bloody shoulder.

“It’s fine, just a crease.” She gritted out, hand already glowing to stem the blood flow. Don’t worry about me, get the people to safety.” She turned to Shiro. “I think it was aimed at the Grand Counselor. We need to get her out of here.”

Shiro nodded, already moving towards the local leader who was huddled with her own guards.

“Lance, Keith, you go after the shooter. Hunk and Pidge, get to the doors and help everyone get out, watch for anyone who might get trampled.”

The paladins scattered, following the orders without question.

At the loss of their target, the shooter had turned their fire from the stage to the people fleeing the hall. Either they were a terrible shoot, Lance thought as a blast narrowly missed his shoulder, or they weren’t actually trying to hurt the audience.

“They’re on the balcony.” Keith called, darting towards the left staircase. “You go right and we’ll corner them.”

Lance headed right, pounding up the stairs with his rifle ready to go. Sliding around the corner, he wiped the gun up just in time to watch a dark shape plow into Keith, sending them both sprawling in a tangle of flailing limbs. Swearing, Lance rushed forward to pull them apart. A second person jumped out of the shadows, catching him off-guard. Jerking back, the butt of a gun meant for his temple rammed into his shoulder, nearly knocking him off his feet.

“Filthy outsider!” The attacker hissed, “No better than the Galra.” They brought their gun back up, aiming it towards Lance.

“Hate to break it to you,” Lance snapped, lashing out with a foot and catching his opponent in the side with a metal boot tip. “But shooting into a crowded room sounds more like Zarkon than a boring speech about peace.” He thrust the butt of his own gun up, knocking their gun out of their hands. The weapon crashed to the ground and spun out of sight. He leveled his rifle at their face. “Hands above your head.”

The alien snarled but dropped to his knees, hands held up where Lance could see them. Keeping his weapon steady, Lance reached into a compartment on his armor and pulled out a small blue tab. Pressing it to the gunman’s forehead, he watched as it glowed and then expanded into ropes of blue energy, pinning them to the ground.

“Alright, you sit tight now.” Smirking at the look of pure poison, he turned to find Keith.

The hall was empty but Lance could hear the sound of fighting on the other side of the door that lead outside. Sure enough, when he pushed the heavy doors open, he found his teammate dueling furiously with a female-looking Tiikia in the same dark uniform as her buddy.

Impressively, she was using her gun as a sword and meeting Keith blow for blow. Even as Lance watcher, however, he could see her getting slower and it wasn’t long before Keith’s blade found her shoulder, slicing through the thin armor. She screamed and dropped, bright blue blood seeping through her fingers.

“Surrender.” Keith snapped, resting the tip of his blade at her throat.

Lance grinned and let his rifle relax as he moved closer.

“I’ve got the other one tied up and ready to go. Sounds like it was an isolationist movement.”

The female glared at him.

“Aliens bring nothing but pain.” She hissed with a fanatical glint in her eyes, ignoring the sword below her chin. “You must die to send a message.”

Lance rolled his eyes, letting his bayard shift to its resting form. “Why is it that every planet has their own angry group of anti-everything’s?” He asked Keith as the red paladin reached for his own restraint tabs. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the female slid something out of her pocket. “Hey,” he said, turning. “What are yo—

The blast knocked him off his feet, sending him flying backwards to crash into the heavy doors.

The world was white for a moment, then black, and then Lance was pushing himself to his feet. Limbs shaking, he stood, bracing himself against the door frame. Vision swimming, he tried to find Keith.

The balcony was a mess, bits of smashed columns and the shredded remains of several flower beds littered the floor. At the center, he could see a dark chunky smear of the female’s remains. Past that was Keith, lying motionless against the railing.

“Shit!” Lance jerked forward, stumbling towards his friend. “Keith, are you ok?” The red paladin moaned, pressing one hand to his bloody forehead.

“Lance. The balcony, I think its—

The floor trembled beneath them, the floor shuddering like a giant beast. Lance glanced over his shoulder, horrified to see massive cracks racing up the wall of the building.

Keith grabbed his arm.

“Lance, get out of here. _Go_!”

Lance gave him a look of pure disbelief.

“You’re fucking joking, right?” He asked, pulling Keith’s arm over his shoulder. “Please tell me you don’t actually think I’d just leave you here.”

“Lance, my jets aren’t working and yours aren’t strong enough to—

“Keith, shut up.” After a moment of struggling, Lance managed to get Keith onto his back. “Thank god you’re conscious,” he muttered as Keith tightened his legs around his waist. “I do _not_ want to try this with a princess carry.”

The balcony trembled again, large chunks starting to break away and crash to the floor below him. Peering over the balcony to judge their angle, he shrugged Keith a little higher on his hip bones.

“Hope you can swim.” He shouted, before leaping off the stone just as the whole thing split apart.

For a moment, he thought his thrusters might hold them but gravity quickly took over, pulling them down. Next to the blast, the shock of the cold water was almost pleasant.

Almost.

The cold water punched the air from his lungs, nearly knocking him out. He might have let it if hadn’t been for the feeling of Keith’s arms around his shoulders. As they started to slip off him, awareness rushed back in and he began kicking furiously, sending them both to the surface.

They broke through gasping for air before swimming slowly to edge of the pool. Keith let go, pushing away Lance’s hands as the blue paladin tried to pull him closer, and heaved himself up onto the stone. Lance followed and they lay panting side by side, listening to the far away sound of people panicking inside.

“Well.” Said Keith, after a long moment. “That was… fun.”

Lance laughed and then groaned.

“Shiro is going to have kittens.”

“Only you would turn a capture mission into a death defying leap into a pond.”

“Hey,” Lance protested, turning so he could see Keith’s face. “I don’t want to hear that from you. Also, bomber chick was definitely yours. Mine was nice and explosion-less.” Keith laughed and they fell back into a strange, peaceful silence. The sounds from inside were getting closer, as if people were getting closer. Feeling that their moment was about to end, he reached up and dared to place a hand on Keith’s shoulder, squeezing lightly.

“About earlier,” he started and then stopped, unsure of what to say. He didn’t want Keith to be mad at him. Especially over something as dumb as drunk flirting when he knew how much he loved Shiro. Keith turned, staring at Lance with a hopeful, open expression that may or may not have been from a concussion.

“I’m sorry about… everything. You and Shiro are important to me, I didn—

Keith’s face fell, eyes closing as he lay back.

“Don’t worry about it.” He said, dully, hand coming up to squeezing the one on his shoulder before dropping away. “You’re our friend, that doesn’t have to change.”

“Good.” Lance muttered, relief flooding through him. “That’s good.” Keith might have said something but Lance was already drifting away.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the second chapter of my revision. Thank you everyone who has commented on my previous version and to everyone who commented on my decision to rewrite this fic. I really appreciate all your encouragement! This has been the nicest fandom I've ever been it. :)

A week later, Lance found himself alone in the vid room lying upside down on the couch and staring at blank screen. Despite the blood rushing to pool in his skull and the annoyed throbbing of his twisted knee, he couldn’t quite bring himself to move.

“What’s this? Looks like someone’s come down with a case of Goran Clumps!” A red headed face came into view, blocking his view of the TV. “That can be quite deadly if you don't get moving, you know!” Coran added as he stroked his mustache, tilting his head like a bird.

“Hi, Coran,” Lance said dully, not bothering move even as the older man began to poke him on the forehead. “I thought you were working on the Castle today?”

“I am!” he agreed brightly, crouching down to pull on Lance’s lower eyelid and stare into his eyes. “Got to take a walk once a while, keeping the ol’ legs limber. Stand around too long and bam! Before you know it, you’re stiffer than a Tukor rock monster.” Humming, the Altean opened Lance’s mouth and peered at this tongue.

“How long have you been sitting here, lad? What a sickly shade of pink!”

Lance pushed him away and sat up, groaning at the wave of dizziness that threatened to knock him back down again.

“Only since this morning,” He muttered when the world stopped spinning. “And all humans are that shade of pink on the inside. I’m not sick.”

“Oh good,” Coran said as he pushed to his feet. “Got more chores than hands and there’s no one better for a bit of cleaning than someone with Goran Clumps!” Ignoring Lance’s squawk of surprise, he hauled the paladin to his feet and began herding him towards the door.

“I’m not sick!” Lance repeated, “And I’m on mandatory bed rest, remember?”

“Kiivul vicks! In my day, everyone knew that a little light cleaning was the fastest way to get back to fighting shape! My mother would have never tolerated me hiding in the rec hall while there was work to be done.”

“Tell that to Keith,” Lance muttered with only a touch of bitterness. “he hasn’t come out of his room in _three days_.”

Three days of hiding after four of avoiding Lance like he had the plague. So much for everything going back to normal.

“I’m sure he’ll be out and about soon,” Coran said cheerfully as he pushed Lance towards the armory. "There’s one that does _not_ like to be idle. I’m sure he’ll be over it in no time!” He added, giving Lance a significant look as he opened the door and pulled out a bucket of cleaning supplies, pressing them into Lance’s hands.

“Wait, what?” Lance asked dumbly, fumbling with his new burden. By the time he looked up, however, Coran had disappeared. “Great.” He muttered. “Guess I’ll start with the cannons.”

Stepping into the room, he set the bucket next to the giant cylinders and flipped on the ventilation system. Reaching for the first one, he set it on its side and began to dismantle it, setting each heavy piece to the side in the order. Once he had it laid before him, he pulled out a swab, soaked it in the cleaning solution, and began to clean out the barrel. It wasn’t long before he began to hum as his hands fell into a rhythm.  

He had to hand it to Coran, the work was a lot more soothing than staring at nothing and feeling sorry for himself. Even his knee felt better despite that fact that he was standing on it. A week on his own while the rest of the team was off chasing down isolationists, or avoiding him, had not been great for his mental health.

 _When was the last time I used my face mask_? He wondered, trying to think back. It had been… hmm, well at least a few days. No wonder he felt so off. He had been doing that routine since grade school.

 _I’ll do it tonight_ , he decided, sliding the pieces of the first cannon back into place with slightly more force than necessary. _And if Keith can’t…_ He sighed. If Keith couldn’t accept his apology than he would just have to deal, wouldn’t he? Deal and hope that when Shiro got back from his mission that it wouldn’t lead to a long, awkward conversation about friendship and boundaries and _two_ people avoiding him the hallway. Though he supposed Shiro was more likely to be pity-smiles and pats on the back.

 _I’m such an idiot_.

Reaching for the second cannon, he froze as a muffled shout made its way through the door leading to the training arena. Curious, he dropped his brush to the ground and moved close, listening intently. After a few moments, the sound came again, louder and angrier.

Keith, Lance realized. He had obviously gotten tired of his room and gone training.

Biting his lip, he looked over at the third door, which led to the control room. There was no way Keith would see him, not if he was careful.

No, he told himself firmly, heading back to his brush. That would be an invasion of privacy. If Keith didn’t want to see him, he was better off sticking to himself.

A minute later, he was crouched in one of the control chairs, keeping to the shadows to avoid being spotted.

 _Such an idiot_ , he repeated even as he crept closer.

Below him, Keith glided over the gleaming floors in a routine Lance vaguely recognized. A modified Galra kata, he realized. He remembered Allura and Kolivan talking about it. Speed over strength. Altean steps with a Galran stance.

Keith stepped through the moves like a dancer, clearly working from years of practice. Which made it all the more startling when Keith’s foot slid a little too far to the left, causing him to slip and fall to one knee.

Let out another shout of frustration, Keith slammed one fist to the ground before carefully setting down his sword to run his hands through his hair.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid.” The other man muttered to himself, slumping back to sit on his ass and rest his elbows on his knees. After a moment he stood back up, lifted his sword, and began the steps again.

“Should have been faster,” he mumbled to himself, barely audible over the arena speakers. “Should have known better.”

 _He’s talking about last week_ , Lance realized as Keith continued to berate himself through the kata.

On the one hand, this was terrible. Left to his own devices without Shiro, Keith was likely to decide to run off and take on the isolationists on his own as some sort of misguided attempt at redeeming himself. Then Keith would _die_ because one, he was still injured and not at all cleared for duty, and two, Lance would never see him leave because while Keith was as blunt as a two by four, he was sneakier than all of Lance’s little sisters combined.

On the _other_ hand, Keith was avoiding him out of guilt which was… not great, but better.

Lance groaned, rubbing his eyes.

“Why are you so much work?” he muttered to himself. As if the universe decided to prove him right, when Lance opened his eyes, Keith was gone. “Dammit.” Jumping out of his chair, he crept back down the stairs just in time to see Keith stow his training sword gently on the rack and disappear out the door. When he was sure the other paladin was gone and not coming back, Lance grabbed his cleaning supplies and went back to work. He had promised Coran, after all, and he could use the time to think.

As he pulled the second cannon apart, a plan started to form in his mind.

~

Lance loved food. He had great memories of his mothers, each with their own cookbook thicker than a college textbook, and his grandfather, who had been cooking since before solar-ovens were invented. For as long as he could remember, it had been a family tradition to get together over Sunday dinner and argue about who’s roast chicken recipe had more flavor and whether pumpkin should be sweet or savory. And everyone, down to his youngest, tiniest sister, had _very_ strong opinions about how much chili powder was too much. Trick question, there was no such thing as too much chili powder.

Sadly, food did not love Lance.

“Cook, you fuckin— FUCK!” Lance hissed, jerking his hand away from the hot metal to stick the burnt finger in his mouth. “Fucking alien kitchen,” he muttered, rushing to readjust his pan where it hovered inside the machine. “Who decided anti-gravity fields belonged in an oven? This is literally the stupidest… fuck!”

A few minutes later he sighed, staring morosely at the burnt remains of what had been empanadas. They had even looked right if you ignored the fact that the meat had been glowing and the pastry parts were purple. Now, however, it was entirely black and entirely useless.

He tripped the contents into the trash shuttle and tossed the pan into the washer. The machine gurgled for a moment before spitting the tray back out, shining as if Lance’s ill attempted try at comfort food had never existed.

“Maybe that’s for the best.” He muttered, throwing himself down on one of the chairs and resting his head against the table. “Asshole probably hates empanadas.”

“You’re making empanadas?” asked the current bane of his existence from the doorway.

Lance did not jump but he did have to slap a hand over his mouth to keep the embarrassing squeak of surprise from escaping.

“I am going to tie a bell on you if it fucking kills me.” He muttered, turning to glare at Keith.

To Lance’s surprise, there was a small moment of hesitation before Keith gave him his usual smirk. The way he strode into room was full of his typical confidence but something about that brief second made Lance’s stomach twist.

“—onder you burned it, you have the stabilizer turned off.” Keith continued, obvious to Lance’s turmoil. Lance frowned, following Keith’s finger to a swiggly mark above the large dial.

“I didn’t turn it off, it was off before I started.”

“Haven’t you used this before?” Keith asked, powering the machine down. Lance raised an eyebrow in patent disbelief.

“You’re kidding, right? Hunk guards his kitchen like he’s afraid Zarkon’s going to come back from the grave and take it from him. Plus, the last time he let me cook… I may have set things on fire.”

Keith stared at him, eyes wide.

“On _fire_?”

“It was one, curtain, ok! One! And I was ten!” Lance growled, “And if you’re so great at it, you can make your own food. See if I try to cook for you again.”

If Keith’s eyes had been wide before, they were now the size of dinner plates.

“You were cooking… for me?” Lance nodded, which only seemed to confuse Keith more. “But, _why_?”

“Because that’s what you’re supposed to do!” Or at least, that’s what you did when you were part of the McClain family. Maybe Galra had never heard of comfort food.

“Well, yeah, but I didn’t… you said… you keep—“ Keith broke off his rambling to press two fingers to the bridge of his nose in a very Shiro-like fashion. “I really wish you’d make up your mind.”

“Make up _my_ mind?” Lance sputtered, indignant. “I’m not the one that locked myself in my room for three days sulking about a mistake.”

“…what?” Keith backed up until his back hit the stove, shoulders hunched. Lance sighed, rubbing his jaw.

“Lady blows herself up and we almost became paladin paste under a ton of rubble. If you weren’t overanalyzing it and drowning in guilt, I’d be worried.”

“I don’t—

“Tell me you haven’t been thinking about taking a shuttle down the planet and finding the isolationists.” He challenged, looking Keith dead in the eye. Keith lasted half a second before his nose scrunched and his gaze dropped to the floor. “Thought so. Were you planning on letting anyone know or were you planning on letting us find out when we realized your shuttle went missing days ago.”

“I would have told you,” Keith insisted, eyes down. Then, after a very pointed silence, added, “eventually.”

Silence stretched between them, Lance watching Keith and Keith watching the floor. Part of him told Lance to drop it. It wasn’t really his place to police Keith’s destructive tendencies and apart from making sure he didn’t do anything stupid, he should just leave it to Shiro. The other side of his brain pointed out that there was nothing weird about a friend helping another friend keep his mind off things and really, how often did he get to spend time with Keith like this?

“Hunk said you like chili?” He finally asked, making up his mind. Keith jerked his head up, blinking.

“Uh, yeah. My, uh, dad likes to make it sometimes.”

“Well, I happen to have my grandpa’s world-famous recipe, if you can handle a little heat.” He taunted, sliding to his feet and flipping the stove back on. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Keith slowly started to smile. A small genuine one. By the time he turned around, however, it had morphed into a full-blown smirk.

“You have obviously never had my dad’s cooking.” Keith drawled, reaching around him to very slowly and deliberately turn the stabilizer on.

And just like that, they set to work, moving around the room as if they had always cooked together. Lance listing off ingredients from memory and Keith patiently finding the alien equivalent and explaining what it tasted like. By the time the food was bubbling cheerfully on the stove while they watched, the tension in Keith’s shoulders was almost gone.

Which is why Lance was caught off guard when Keith brushed his shoulder and opened his mouth.

“I’m not good with people.” The smaller man said slowly. Which, yes, was true. But something about the way he said it made Lance think he was talking about something specifically.

“Uh, yeah, I guess that’s true.” Lance said when Keith made no move to continue. “I mean, you aren’t terrible.” Keith turned back to look at him and Lance didn’t need to see his face to feel the disbelief radiating off the red paladin.

“I nearly started a war last month by giving someone a _compliment_.” Keith stressed, punching Lance on the shoulder when the blue paladin began to laugh.

“Well, to be fair, she _was_ really pregnant. You couldn’t have known about the dad.” Lance pointed out, ducking away from Keith’s half-hearted punch.

“Shiro wouldn’t have made that mistake.” Keith pulled his hand back and crossed his arms over his chest. Lance gave Keith his own look of incredulity, knowing that he could see it.

“Dude, really? The guy who picked up an emperor of seven planets and carried him around on his hip for an hour because he thought it was a lost kid? That Shiro?”

“We got three trade agreements out of that.”

“Yeah, because it turns out the emperor has a crush the size of Jupiter on him.” Lance pointed out, stirring the pot. “Could’ve easily started a war.”

“Can you really imagine _Shiro_ starting a war?” Keith asked doubtfully.

“Well, no. I guess not. Even if he did piss someone off, he’d just bat his ridiculous eyelashes and bring about world peace, or something.” Ridiculous eyelashes and a steady hand for eyeliner which didn’t make Lance jealous, _at all_.

“I had a point.” Keith mumbled, making an odd purring noise when Lance held up the spoon for him to taste. He took a bite, licking his lips distractedly before shaking his head. “I’m trying to apologize.”

Lance paused in the middle of his own bite, letting out an inquiring noise around the spoon.

“I shouldn’t have… ignored you.”

“Well, not for a week, anyways.” Lance agreed, setting the spoon down and crossing his arms. “I was expecting one or two days, to be honest.”

Keith stared at him, shuffling weight from side to side.

“You… were expecting it?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, that’s how it goes, right? Can’t turn your emotions off. A week is a bit excessive, though. Usually people go one way or the other by that point.”

Keith was starting to look pained again, hand coming up to pinch the bridge of his nose.

“You’re telling me that its… this is normal for humans?”

Only Keith could turn a conversation about his people skills into a discussion about how humans dealt with unrequited love. Lance eyed the door, judging how quickly he could escape, before turning back to his chili. At this point he was too damn hungry to leave.

“I guess? At least it was when you put a bunch of teenagers in a military school with no escape. Shouldn’t you know this?” He asked desperately. “You were in the academy, right?”

“I… didn’t really talk to anyone. Not like this.”

“Well, you really didn’t miss out on much.” Looking back on it, the garrison had not been a good place. Cadets were often catty and infighting between groups had not only been common but passively encouraged by the teaching staff. What better way to weed out the weak than by letting the students do it themselves. Cadets dropping out in the middle of the night was typical, certainly no one had bat an eye when loner Kogane had disappeared without a word.

“Anyways, don’t worry about it. It’s all sorted, we can all just move on.”

Keith nodded, leaning over to turn off the stove.

“Moving on is good,” he agreed, giving Lance a small smile over his shoulder. “I guess Shiro was right.”

“Right about what?”

“He said we should wait and give you some time. I didn’t understand it was a human culture thing.” Keith said casually, rooting around in the cupboard for bowls. Above him, Lance was quickly sliding into panic mode.

Shit, Lance thought. He had spent so much time focusing on Keith he had forgotten that Shiro deserved an apology too. And if apologizing to Keith, who had a habit of turning defensive at the drop of a hat, was hard, dealing with Shiro’s Look of Disappointment was going to be a bitch. He studied Keith as he filled the bowls. All in all, Keith seemed back to normal. Whatever he had felt about Lance’s crush, he was over it now. Maybe he could…

“I guess we should talk to him when he gets back?” Lance suggested hopefully. “Find somewhere private for the three of us?”

Keith hummed, shoveling a spoonful into his mouth. His eyes didn’t even water, which not even Lance’s grandfather could boast. _Must come from his Galra side,_ Lance thought.

“We should,” Keith agreed, looking as content as Lance had ever seen him, “I’ll send him a message. This is really good.”

“Thanks,” Lance said around a sigh of relief. Hopefully Shiro would just brush the whole thing off with Keith there to prove Lance was serious about acting normal. “I could make it again, if you want.”

Keith coughed around a mouthful, letting out a sharp bark of laughter.

“Shiro thinks salt is spicy. This would literally kill him.”

Oh, well, it looked like he was on for dinner tomorrow night as well. Somehow, Lance was ok with that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't like how little actual conversation there was in previous chapters and it seemed odd that Shiro was just... not there with no explanation. So hopefully things are a little clearer this time. Shiro will be getting a lot more attention in this version.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, sorry this took so long, I ended up rerwriting it a few times before I was satisfied. Its a little longer too, so hopefully that makes up for it! Thank you for all the wonderful comments and support!

“— the puzzle sequence, it was pretty easy to get inside.” Shiro explained around a spoonful of apple crisp. “Turns out most of their finances went towards the main door. After that, it took about an hour to subdue everyone and cart them out. Honestly, the paperwork was why it took us so long to get back. I had no idea there could _be_ so many forms.” The look of bemusement that followed was enough to send Lance into a fit of laughter. Even Keith was grinning into his own desert, careful to keep his head down to hide it.

Shiro smiled softly at the pair of them, hand squeezing Keith’s gently where they lay together on the table top. Lance ducked his head and shoved his last spoonful into his mouth. When he looked up again, Shiro had gone back to his food.

“Anyways, everything’s been wrapped up and taken care of.” Shiro continued. “The Grand Counselor will be conducting trials soon and wants Allura to help mediate, so we’ll be staying for another couple weeks, but we shouldn’t be involved in that. It’ll be a quick process, I think. Pidge said they kept most of their records on their computers.”

“Man,” Lance said with a slow shake of his head before propping his chin on one hand. “It’s pretty hard to believe that people who thought it was a good idea to build a three-level maze as their only defense were the same ones that managed to bring down half a building. Guess they were just a bunch of fanatics after all.”

“ _Dangerous_ fanatics,” Keith snapped quietly, eyes flicking to the shallow cut crawling up the side of Shiro’s neck. “we should’ve been there to help.”

“It would have been nice to have you down there,” Shiro agreed, bringing up their joined hands to press a chaste kiss to Keith’s knuckle. “But between your ribs and Lance’s knee, I’m happy you two got to take a break.” He met Keith’s eyes, smiling steadily. “If we had run into real trouble I would have called you in immediately, I promise.” Keith rolled his eyes with a soft snort but he was smiling.

Under the table, Lance dug his nails into the muscle of his thigh and tried not to let his discomfort show. He had been waiting for the right time to bring up his apology and didn’t want to ruin Shiro’s good mood. It was going to awkward enough as it was. Keith, at least, seemed to be in high spirits. Despite his obvious annoyance at being left behind, the red paladin had been nearly vibrating in his seat all night, sneaking side looks at Lance when he thought the other wasn’t looking.

Lance wasn’t entirely sure why Keith was so excited to hear his apology but he figured that his teammate was as sick of the whole thing hanging over them as Lance was. Sure, if he had his way, neither of them would have any clue about his ridiculous crush but maybe… maybe it was better this way? He could move on and everything… would be ok.

Holding that thought like a lifeline, Lance cleared his throat, breaking the other two out of their banter.

“Uh, so. I wanted to… talk.” He winced as his voice cracked a little on the last word but neither of his teammates seemed bothered. Shiro smiled, looking so warm that Lance could feel his resolve crumbling under him like sand. “Talk… um….” He trailed off as his nerve faltered, eyes falling to the table top.

There was a moment of silence before the squeak of a chair made him look back up. Sliding out of his seat, Shiro smiled down at the two of them.

“I’ll go make that coffee stuff I found.” He explained as he headed towards the tiny kitchenette that stood off from the main cabin he and Keith shared. “I think we could all use a little pick-me-up.” He disappeared into the other room, leaving them alone.

They sat silently for half a second before Lance groaned and dropped his head to the table.

“Fuuuck” He muttered into the metal.

“I’ve seen you flirt with nearly every sentient species we’ve ever met.” Keith said quietly, scooting closer, and Lance looked up to see the red paladin watching him with concern. “What’s different about this?”

“That did _mean anything_ ,” Lance stressed, waving a hand weakly before running it through his hair. “It just makes people feel good about themselves, you know? It’s not like I’m going to see them next week in the bathroom with a mouth full of toothpaste or whatever.”

Keith bit his lip, rolling the flesh between sharp teeth in a way that was extremely distracting given what Lance was trying to do.

“You know… he’s not going to say no.” Keith said finally, looking hopelessly confused, as if he couldn’t understand why it was killing Lance to even be talking about this.

“That— that’s not what I’m worried about,” Lance whispered, leaning back in his chair to stare morosely at the ceiling. “I just… don’t want anything to change. “

Keith stared at him, head cocking to the side like a dog. At any other time, the sight would have merited at least one dog pun but Lance couldn’t work up the energy.

“Why would we change?”

Lance sighed.

“No, you’re right, Shiro’s too professional. Ugh, look, I could just really use your help, ok? I don’t want to mess this up.”

Keith seemed to perk up at that or as much as Keith ever did.

“Help… your confidence?” His eyes were huge, reflecting the light in that weird animal way that all Galra seemed to. He looked… determine, as if he was working himself up to something.

“Sure?” Lance said slowly, wondering if he was actually going to try to give a pep talk. Did Galra do that? “Alright, lay it on me.” It couldn’t be any worse than Coran’s.

He had barely finished speaking before Keith moved, a sudden blur of movement out of the corner of his eye. Then the heat hit his brain like a train.

A million years ago, back when he had thought the closest he would get to traveling the stars was cargo runs to mars, Lance had dreamed about this. He had laid in his bunk in the darkness and imagined what it would feel like to have this body pressed against his own, fingers in his hair, and the taste of this mouth on his tongue. He had put away those dreams years ago but now he wished he could go back and tell his childhood self that the reality was better than anything he had ever imagined.

Keith mouth was hot and slick as it slid over his own, teeth just barely nipping at his lips. Before he could stop himself, Lance’s fingers were slipping into Keith’s hair, pulling the other man closer until he could taste the sweet under tone of apples and spice. Keith’s tongue flicked inside of his mouth, rubbing a hot trailing over its curves. Sparks danced behind his eyes as the heat from Keith’s mouth glided lower, pooling in his groin like a liquid fire.

A soft intake of air, too far away to be Keith, brought reality crashing back down until Lance could barely breath through the panic rising in his chest.

 _What had he done?!_ His brain screamed at him as he jumped back, nearly sending his chair crashing to the ground. _WHAT HAD HE DONE?!_

“I— “ He gasped, stumbling, “ _I—!”_

Keith was still in his seat, half forward and one hand gripping the table hard enough to leave shallow indents. He was staring up at Lance, facing growing more thunderous by the second. He didn’t even glance at Shiro, who was standing in the doorway with a pair of steaming mugs.

“What is WRONG WITH YOU!?” Keith shouted, jumping out of his chair and slamming a hand on the table hard enough to rattle the plates. “Do you think this is _funny?!”_ He stalked closer, ignoring the way that Lance began to sputter.

Shiro darted forward, barely dropping the mugs on the table before trying to step between them.

“Wait, give h—

“No,” Keith snapped, pushing away Shiro’s arm when it tried to wrap around his shoulders. “I am _sick_ of you jumping around!” He shouted at Lance. “You— you keep doing this! One minute you’re…” He hissed wordlessly, grabbing his hair in frustration. “And then you just! Again!”

“I’m sorry!” Lance forced out, hands up. “I know, I _know_ —

“No, you _don’t_ know!” Keith shouted, pushing Shiro away again. “I!” He made another noise of frustration. “I’m going to go beat something up. Call me back when you make up your mind.” He turned on his heel and stalked out the door, ignoring Shiro’s call.

Silence fell over the room.

After a moment, Shiro sighed and ran a finger over his scar.

“That… could have gone better.” He admitted softly.

Lance couldn’t even look at him.

His chest felt tight, as if he couldn’t get enough air.

“I… I need to go.” He barely whispered, turning towards the door. He needed to. To get to his room. Somewhere safe where he could ball himself up and never come out. Somewhere he could pick through the pieces of his life and figure out how he was going to survive this.

“Wait!” Shiro barked, jumping forward. He didn’t touch Lance, hands hovering just above his shoulders, but years of habit stopped Lance cold.

He shuddered.

“Shiro… I can’t… not… I just need to be alone.”

The tight feeling was getting worse, crawling over him until it felt like he could barely move, he was shaking so hard.

“Hey, hey, its ok.”

He could dimly hear Shiro above him but the sound of his voice came in bursts like a staticky radio. Throat closing, Lance dropped to the ground, trying to count out his breaths. In the distance, he could hear Shiro asking for permission to touch him and he nodded shakily, not caring if he had heard correctly.

Immediately, he was surrounded by warmth as Shiro wrapped around him, pushing him gently against the wall like a heavy blanket. As he counted, thoughts began to crowd his mind.

 _What had he done_ …

He had been so close to closing the lid on this. One apology and it would’ve… it would’ve been fine! Everything would have been ok but now… The paladins were the only thing that had kept him sane from missing his family during the war. And if occasionally he had admired a muscle here and there, he had loved them too much to try and take it further. And now… how could he possibly make this ok?

Fuck!

Lance jerked, panic starting to close his throat off again. He had to calm down, take deep breaths. He wasn’t going to lose them, wasn’t going to break them up, it’d be fine, deep breaths, deep breaths, deep breathsdeepbreathsdeepbre—

“—in and out. You can do it, one more.” He grabbed the words, forcing his lungs to match Shiro’s. It seemed like an eternity but after a while, he could feel it pulling away. “Good job,” Shiro praised into Lance’s ear as he rubbed a hand slowly up and down Lance’s back. “I’m so proud of you, you’re doing great.” Lance groaned weakly, realizing his face was more or less pushing into the crook of Shiro’s neck while the other man read him lines that sounded like they were straight from a porn video. He thought about pulling away but couldn’t summon the energy. They stayed like that, Shiro rubbing his back and Lance listening to the steady pound of his heart.

“I’m sorry.” Lance finally said into Shiro’s shoulder. “I’m not… don’t break up with Keith.”

_Don’t hate me_

Under him, he could feel Shiro tense.

“What?” Shiro sounded… baffled. Which was kind of not what Lance had been expecting of a guy who had just walked in on his boyfriend making out with someone else. “Why would… Lance,” He shifted them until Shiro could meet Lance’s eyes. “Lance, why would we break up? Its ok if you don’t,” He coughed, looking unhappy. “It’s ok if you’re not interested, though we were—

Lance jerked back, cutting the older man off mid-sentence.

“Wait, wait?! Dude, what are you talking about? I just made out with your boyfriend. _Why aren’t you mad?!_ ”

Shiro opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, and then sighed, letting his head drop to Lance’s shoulder.

“Ugh.” He said with a great deal of feeling and Lance agreed. After a moment, Shiro sat back up and carefully adjusted Lance until he was pressed up against his side, head on his shoulder. Lance felt like he should… pull away, or something, but he couldn’t work up the energy. Not when it felt like the heat from Shiro’s body was sinking into his bones.

“Let’s start from the beginning,” Shiro suggested quietly, rubbing the warm palm of his metal arm over Lance’s shoulder.

“I’m not even sure where the beginning _is_.” Lance confessed. “I just wanted to apologize to you guys. Hunk said I… was super inappropriate at our party and I didn’t want to make it weird. Only it did get weird. Really, really weird. And then Keith _was kissing me in front of you_ and WHO DOES THAT?!”

Shiro chuckled, pulling Lance closer as he began to gesture wildly.

“Keith… isn’t always the best at communicating.” Shiro agreed when Lance was finished making his point. “It took me nearly a year before I realized that making my lunch every day meant a little more to him than it had to me.”

“That… what?” Lance stared at him.

“Food,” Shiro clarified. “It’s a big thing for Galra. And as human as Keith looks… he’s really not. Not where it counts, anyways.” He sighed. “I probably should have expected this when he told me you were making dinner for us.” He ran a hand over his face and glared half-heartedly at the door. “We are definitely going to revisit our discussion on going to train in the middle of important arguments.”

 

Lance doesn’t respond. It feels like his brain is full of white noise as the events of the last two weeks slowly click into place like one of those dumb optical illusion pictures that everyone can see except you.

“Shit.” He breathed, “Oh _shit_. He thought… make up my mind, that’s what he meant. Shit. He… you— flirting!” Lance groaned, burying his face in his hands. “Oh my god.”

“It’s ok to change your mind,” Smiling faintly and turning to see Lance better. “It’s… disappointing but if you’re not interested we’re not going to—

“Shiro,” The black paladin jerked to a stop as Lance grabbed his face between both hands and looked him in the eye. “I don’t remember _anything_ from the party. All I know is that at some point, I shoved the dumb crush I’ve had on both of you for _literal years_ in both your faces and have been trying apologize for it.”

“Oh.” Shiro paused. “That… actually makes a lot of sense.” His lips twitched as he visibly tried to fight a smile.

“God, this is such a disaster.” Lance muttered as Shiro tried to contain himself.

“If it helps,” Shiro added when he had himself under control, “I have, uh, video footage. If you want to see it.”

Blinking, Lance stared as Shiro brought up the tiny computer on his wrist and pulled up a small recording.

“That _bitch_.” Lance said without venom, watching a 2D version of himself twitching his hips from side to side. “I knew it.” The little Lance falls down laughing before being pulled into something more kid-friendly by a very tipsy Keith. For about five seconds and then it goes back to looking like something Lance would expect to see in the dark corners of the Net. Horribly, he can feel blood rushing places he doesn’t really want it to go at the moment.

“Ugh, ok. There’s only so much of my own dancing I can stomach.” Shiro laughed as Lance pushed the video away, flicking it off. Lance sighed. “Can you… just tell me what happened.”

“There’s… actually not a lot of tell.” Shiro admitted after a long pause. Lance shifted around to see him better until they were almost nose to nose. Shiro didn’t seem to notice. “After everyone started leaving, Keith pulled us into his nest and we just… talked. It was nice.” He added, smiling carefully. Lance smiled back and was rewarded when Shiro’s checks started to redden. The black paladin rubbing his scar again, eyes darting away.

“You two were still going, except I think you both forgot about the dare part and were just competing to see who had the better secrets.”

“Shit, yeah, ok, that sounds like me.”

“Can’t resist a competition.” Shiro agreed, running a hand over Lance’s hair with a fond look. “And anyways, that’s when you told us that you… uh.” The blush on Shiro’s cheeks darkened until it looked like half the blood in his body was in his face.

Lance took a deep breath, steeling himself.

“That I’ve been wanting to go down on you two since I knew what my cock was for?” He said, only slightly faster than his usual tone. Shiro let out an odd squeaking noise, like someone had stepped on him, nodding sharply.

“Yeah,” He said, sounding a little out of breath. Then he shook his head as if to clear it and smiled hopefully. “Does that mean… you’re still interested?”

“I… guess? I mean I didn’t actually think… you’d ever… I mean it was never going to happen. I’m still not… I mean, you two have been dating for years.”

“Galra don’t care about partner numbers.” Shiro said with a shrug that was a little too casual. “And I’ve never seen a reason why people have to set limits on things like that.”

“Right.” Lance said, feeling suddenly a lot more cheerful. “More the merrier.”

They smiled at each other before Shiro ducked his head and let out a light cough.

“So, that was your secret. Which Keith immediately followed up with telling you that we’ve been thinking about asking you for a date.” He smiled as Lance gapped at him. “For a couple months, actually. We were working out the best way to approach you. And _then_ that devolved into a conversation about the love life of every single one of Keith’s parents. All of them. Stuff that I didn’t even know. I’m never going to be able to look at Antok ever again.”

He shuddered dramatically, startling a laugh out of Lance.

“That bad, huh?” Lance asked.

“I didn’t even know they made toys that could do that.” Shiro confessed, covering his red face with one hand. Lance made a note to ask Keith more later… if Keith ever spoke to him again.

“How… what did I do next?” He asked quietly, good mood falling away. Waving away Shiro’s concern, he rested his head on his knees and steeled himself to hear the last of it. Shiro hesitated before continuing,

“Well, then you declared that you were going to top all of them, uh, metaphorically not literally, before passing out.”

Lance groaned, pressing his face so hard against his knees that burst of light began to spark behind his eyelids.

“Keith probably thinks I’m the biggest asshole in the galaxy.”

Shiro hummed, running a hand over Lance’s head. It wasn’t a disagreement.

“He’ll get over it after you’ve explained.” Shiro promised which was not as comforting as he probably thought it was.

“He is never going to speak to me again. _I_ would never speak to me again. Oh my god. My moms are going to disown me.”

Shiro laughed and pulled him into a hug. Sighing happily, Lance let himself be pulled, taking a guilty moment to enjoy his face being pressed into Shiro’s neck.

“No one’s going to disown you. We’re just going to have to sit down and have the conversation we really should have been having months ago. Like adults. Which we are.”

“Being an adult sucks.” Lance muttered into Shiro’s collar, smiling when it trembled with laughter.

“Yeah, it really does sometimes.” Shiro shifted again until they could see each other. “Ok, as one adult to another. What do you want to do now?”

“Honestly…” Lance hedged, “I don’t even know. I never actually expected this. Like ever. Can I… take some time to get my head around it? I don’t.” He paused, taking in a deep breath. “I don’t want to mess this up again. I want to get it right.”

Shiro smiled at him for a moment and then leaned forward to kiss a soft kiss to the corner of Lance’s mouth. Lance jerked, blushing wildly. Grinning, Shiro pushed to his feet and held out a hand.

“Why don’t you take the night to think? I’ll go find Keith and explain what’s going on and we can meet up tomorrow. Talk about it while everyone is on the same page.”

“Right,” Lance said, fingers pressed to his lips. “Same page. Adults.” He laughed. “Can, can we…?”

Shiro’s smile widened until it was almost a smirk and leaned forward to press his mouth against Lance.

Unlike Keith, who kissed like he was trying to wrestle the other person into submission, Shiro felt… comfortable. Heavy like a warm bed that you could sink into. Shiro’s hand curled around the back of his neck, anchoring him as Shiro gently coaxed his lips open and swept inside. Just as Lance could feel himself start to drift into it, Shiro broke away, almost causing Lance to stumble as he tried to follow.

“I should go find Keith before he breaks something.” Shiro said, his smile almost obscene. Lance nodded weakly.

“Right. See you tomorrow?”

Shiro laughed and darted in to press another, shorter kiss to Lance’s lips.

“Send us a message when you’re ready. We’ll be waiting. Don’t worry about the plates, I’ll get them later” He promised before heading out the door.

Lanced watched him go, brain slowly coming back online. He needed answers and there was really only one place he could find them. Grabbing the dishes and dumping them in the sink for a good old-fashion washing, he began to plan.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter hasn't changed much, just a few edits to fit the new storyline. New chapter should be coming soon and you'll all finally see what Lance has in mind.

“Hmph,” said the man on the screen. “About damn time.”

Lance jerked in surprise, tumbling off the bed. Cursing, he clutched the delicate Altean equipment to his chest and slammed into the ground face first.

“Done dying?” the voice continued, ignoring his groan of pain. Sliding off the bed completely, Lance allowed himself an embarrassed moment of silence for his dignity before pushing to his knees and smiling awkwardly at the tablet.

“Sorry, wasn’t expecting you to link so quickly.” He muttered, wilting.

The man studied him for a moment before smiling sharply. “Don’t worry about it. We’ve got more important things to talk about, you and I.” Lance gulped, wondering if he should have waited a little longer. The man on the screen leaned in, eyes like little blades.  “I—

“What are you doing?”

Lance had never been so thankful to hear a Galra in his life. His heart in his throat, he made a solemn vow to find the nearest planet with flowers and send a shipful to demonstrate his deep, unending gratitude. On the screen, the man cursed under his breath blurring into a tanish smudge as his tablet was wrestled from his grip.

“Hey, I got here first!” The man squawked before making a noise that sounded suspiciously like someone had planted an elbow in his solar plex.

“Yes, after locking yourself in the bathroom, you ridiculous male.” Said another voice, deeper and more proper, without a drawl to color it.

“No,” growled the man around several grunts of pain, “you got to do it last time, it’s _my_ turn!” Lance couldn’t be sure, since the screen was now a mess of purple and grey, but he thought he could see someone yanking on an ear. Low blow.

“We are adults!” The second barked, freeing the tablet from the first and tucking it under his arm so that all Lance could see was black cloth. “We will handle this together and _you will behave_.” Ignoring the sulky muttering, the second male lifted the tablet until his face came into view.

“My apologies,” the Galra said, running a hand over his crest of white fur. “I’m assuming you have questions?”

Lance opened his mouth only to let out an embarrassed squeak before slapping a hand over his mouth, face on fire. On the screen, Ulaz’s lips twitched into a small smile.

“Don’t hurt yourself.” Muttered Steven from the background, his brown eyes appearing in the corner of the screen. Ulaz shushes him, waving the human man off.

“Courting can be very overwhelming,” the scientist said, sounding sympathetic, “especially when it comes as a surprise. Something that seems to be a bit of a habit in this family.” He let out a sigh that Lance can fully agree with.

“I guess Keith talked to you already?” Lance set the tablet on the bed and slumped against the side. “Does _everyone_ know?” It was likely. As far as he had seen, Galra gossiped like school kids trapped in a building without wifi. Ulaz hesitated, looking a little sheepish.

“Ah, well, I suppose you haven’t spoken to your mothers yet, then?”

“ _Oh no_.” Lance whispered, staring at the Galra in growing horror. “Please, please, tell me you didn’t.”

Of all the things that the end of the war had brought, Ulaz’s unlikely friendship with his mothers was probably the last thing Lance had ever expected. One minute, it’s a quick trip home to visit family, the next it’s a four-month cultural exchange of waking up each morning to find a Galra scientist in his kitchen whispering with his mothers over the stove. It really hadn’t helped when they cut off the minute he walked into the room, smiling with an amount of cheer that should have been illegal that early in the morning.

Lance groaned, banging his head against the table for good measure.

“You _knew_ , all of you!” He said weakly. “That was _years_ ago! Did everyone know but me?”

“If you’re asking who won the bet,” asked a new voice cheerfully, “That would be Kolivan. Bastard always had great timing.” Ulaz moved over to let Thace see the tablet, the larger Galra grinning widely from ear to ear. Bending, Thace pressed a kiss to Ulaz’s temple, eyes never leaving Lance’s. Despite the ease smile, his eyes are sharp. In the corner of the screen, Lance can see Antok standing the doorway. “Is there a reason we are meeting in the bathroom?” the massive Galra asked, walking deeper into the room to settle next to his bondmate. “The front room is a bit warmer.” He turned until Lance could see his creepy mask. “McClain.” Lance waved faintly.

“Steven has decided to be a ‘ _drama llama’_.” Ulaz announced solemnly, dodging a swipe from his human brother-in-law. “I had to override the lock.” Tutting like a mother hen, Thace plucked the tablet out of Ulaz’s hands, saving it from an untimely death as Steven knocked the scientist off his perch.

“We really need to work on your teamwork, Kogane.” Thace scolded, laughing at whatever gesture the human makes off screen.

Sighing, Antok reached out, pulling his bondmate away from the scuffle. “You have already had a turn.” He reminded Ulaz, setting the scientist off onto a tangent about teamwork and parenting that even Lance can’t really stand to listen to for more than a few sentences. The screen swirls until he’s looking up at the underside of Thace’s jaw.

“I’m going to leave.” Thace announced before waiting for a reply. Off screen, Ulaz’s speech has drifted into a one-sided discussion of healthy sexual habits that parents should encourage in their offspring. Lance actually kinda wants to hear more about that but Thace is already headed out the door, closing it behind him. His face comes into focus, watching Lance with an intent look, his earlier amusement nowhere to be found.

Lance swallowed, fiddling with his sleeve anxiously. Of all of Keith’s family, Thace made him the most nervous. Steven was loud, Ulaz had a way of looking at you like he’s calculating how long it would take to pull you apart at the seams, and Antok and Kolivan had that terrifying looming thing going for them.

Thace, though… Thace was quiet, watchful. He was all smiles until you saw the teeth and the way his eyes followed you. A predator to his bones.

“I, ah, was hoping to ask some questions.” Lance finally said when it was clear that Thace was waiting on him. “I wasn’t— I didn’t….” He sighed, running a hand over his hair. “I’d do some research on my own but the databases on Galra are a bit short on the social bits.”

Thace’s lips twitch.

“It’s been a while since that information would have been useful to a non-galra.” Thace agreed, settling deeper into the cushions. “No doubt it will be a while before it does again.” Lance thought about the riot against a Galra colony they had stopped a few months ago, nodding.

“Lucky for you,” Thace said, pulling Lance out of his thoughts, “you’ve got several Galra with a vested interest in you not messing this up.” The tone is mild but Lance can hear the threat, hovering just below the surface. Flinching, he nearly dropped the tablet again.

“That would be great, not messing up I mean,” he babbled, fumbling to catch the tiny computer, “because I really don’t want to mess this up. Messing up is the last thing I want. So you helping, totally great, awesome. Please don’t kill me in my sleep.” He froze, replaying that last sentence in his head. “Er…”

“Ulaz has me on a strict ‘no assassination’ schedule.” Thace said with a small smirk, dry as a desert. “I haven’t found his cameras, so I think you’re fine.” Lance stared, unsure if he should laugh or not.

“That’s… good?”

“So, questions! I assume you want to know how to end a courtship without nicking someone’s ear?”

“No!” Lance blurted out before he can stop himself, clutching at the tablet as if he could stop Thace’s words through the force of his fingers. Thace tilted his head, eyes glowing softly in the dim light.

“No?” He repeated softly, “My nephew seems to think differently.” Lance groaned, imagining Keith’s conversation with his family.

“I did… sort of lead him on.” He confessed, laying a hand over his eyes. “Shit. Yep, I totally did that.”

“He’s convinced he has ended your friendship.”

“That— _no_. That is not… he took me completely by surprise, I thought… he and Shiro.” He let his hand drop to his lap with a tired sigh.  Steeling himself, he held up the tablet until he could look Thace dead in the eye and will as much emotion as he could into his voice. “I _like_ Keith. He’s weird and grumpy and I’m pretty sure he’s the one that put space-beetles in my underwear drawer, though I know _exactly_ who gave him that idea, but he’s my teammate. I wouldn’t end a friendship over something like this even if I didn’t want—“

He cut himself off abruptly, glaring at his hands. After a moment, he looked up to find Thace watching him with a sort of soft look in his eyes that stupidly makes Lance want to cry.

“When Shiro approached us about his courtship, none of us were surprised.” Thace said suddenly, taking Lance by surprise at the new topic.

“…uh?” He asked intelligently.

“It was pretty obvious which way the fur lay, honestly.” Thace continued, ignoring Lance’s confusion. “I mean when your kid breaks protocol and uses an emergency line to beg you to save his friend, it’s reasonable to expect there to be a lot of deeper emotion involved. And Shiro’s a bright kid, picked up most of what he needed just observing. We barely had to do anything except point him in the right direction.”

“Right.” Lance muttered, rubbing his chest at the stab of pain Thace’s words evoke. “They’re practically the perfect couple.” Even now, it’s hard to believe Shiro. Believe that they… want him.

“You though, now that was a bit of guessing game.” Thace was rubbing his chin now, eyes distant. “Not a peep out of him for years. We didn’t even know your name until just after the first attack. And even then, all it took was a casual mention and he’d be out the door before we could finish a sentence.”

“Why are you telling me this?” It’s nothing he hadn’t already figured out on his own years ago. And he isn’t going to lie, it kind of hurts to remember how much Keith had disliked him as kids. But now Thace was staring at him, almost expectantly. As if he was waiting for something. Wracking his brain, he tried to think of what to say only to draw a huge, fat blank. The silence stretched between them until Thace shook his head, still smiling faintly.

“Most people think that Keith take the most after his father.”

Lance was getting really tired of the way Thace keeps jumping from topic to topic without getting to the point. It was obvious that the spy was trying to lead him to a conclusion but Lance was tired, physically and emotionally, and the conservation was starting to take its toll on him.

“I would have said Ulaz, actually. All quiet and sharp. Only thing sharper than Keith’s sword is his fucking mouth.” Lance said bluntly, cutting off whatever Thace had been about to add. “Which makes sense, since everyone can see how much you and Shiro have in common.” He continued absently, propping his chin up on one hand to keep from falling over. He waited but the tablet is silent. Blinking, Lance glanced down to check that the connection hadn’t been cut only to find Thace staring at him with an odd expression. As he watched, Thace’s ears twitch wildly, the thin fur barely hiding a darkening color blooming underneath.

It takes him an embarrassing amount of time to realize that Keith’s terrifying uncle was doing the Galra equivalent of _blushing_. 

“Right.” Thace said roughly, sounding a little strangled, “Very obvious.” He cleared his throat, ears still twitching. “That is not what I was going to say, however. I was _going_ to say that in a lot of ways, Keith takes after his mother.”

Lance sat up a little straighter, amusement giving way to curiosity. No one talked much about Keith’s mom, at least not publicly. Lance didn’t even know her name. Only that she was a Galra sent to investigate rumors of the blue lion and she had died defending Keith and his dad from the government.

“Your sister.” Lance confirmed. Thace nodded slowly with a small pained smile.

“Yes, my sister. Javzaa. She would have liked you, I think. She loved jokes.” Lance swallowed the sudden lump in his throat, caught off guard by the unexpected praise. He opened his mouth but Thace was still talking. “She was… not great at romance. Once punched a guy over a compliment on her aim. Knocked a couple teeth out, I think.”

“Ok, yeah, that sounds like Keith.” Lance said, smiling. Thace laughed, shaking his head as if he didn’t want to know.

“And then there’s the impulsiveness. Ask Steven about it sometime, one minute he thinks she’s planning on dumping his body in a ditch, the next they’re bonded and halfway out of your solar system. That’s actually how we joined the Blade. Javzaa was part of a unit sent out to suppress riots. The Blade was there to protect the local infrastructure.”

“She defected?”

“Shot her own commander and took half her unit with her. Then came and kidnapped me. Best thing that had ever happened to me.”

“That also sounds like Keith, though with less kidnapping.”

“For which I’m sure we’re all grateful.” Thace agreed, eyes crinkling with amusement. “I had a point, though. Which is that when it comes to people like Keith, you have to look at what they do not by what they say because often they don’t say anything at all.”

“Actions speak louder than words.” Lance murmured.

“The Galra say ‘a walk is worth more than a read’ but I assume the sentiment is the same.” Thace shrugged.

“I…” Lance paused, releasing a frustrated huff, “I don’t know what to do. I like them. Like, like, which sounds dumb when you say it out loud, but they’ve always been a _them_. You can’t just wiggle into a them, not when it’s a them like them.”

Thace stared at him, eyes narrowed.

“I’m going to pretend I understood that and say that multi-pair bondings are uncommon for humans?”

“No? I mean, they’re not, like, every couple but it’s not weird or anything. I just wasn’t expecting… it’s just… I mean, _Shiro_! And Keith! And I don’t…”

“Ah,” Thace said after a moment, “so it’s not so much that they are a them, it’s that you are a _you_.” 

“Yes!” Lance cried, pleased that Thace finally understood. “I’m me!”

“Well, obviously, you were wrong.”

“Am I, though?” Lance asked quietly, looking back down at his hands. Thace watched him through the screen.

“Lance.” He said finally, the command in his tone making the human whip his head up. “Since the end of the war, Keith and Shiro have gotten ninety-seven courtship offers from nearly every sentient species you can think of. And yet, you’re the one he has been tying himself in knots over for _years_.” Thace smiled. “So, Blue Paladin. What are you going to do about it?”

“I…” Lance tried to imagine telling Shiro and Keith no, imagine going back to the way things were and shuddered. He doesn’t want that, doesn’t want to miss his chance and even the thought that he’s wrong and this is going to end badly isn’t enough to make him turn away. Distantly, a door open and the rest of Keith’s family appear on the screen, watching him.

“Tell me everything I need to know.” He said firmly, heart fluttering like a bird.

~-~

When the call is finished, Lance’s knees ached and his stomach was growling. Pushing up from the floor, he stretched the kinks out of his shoulder and lower back until he felt somewhat human again. Armed with more information than he had ever thought he’d need on an alien culture, he felt strangely light. Almost cheerful. Resisting the urge to whistle, he dressed and wandered out into the hallway. It’s empty, the doors to the other bedrooms closed and silent.

Pidge lived in a different section. Less the guest halls and more the servant quarters. Closer to the workshop they had set up in one of the many garages. Wandering down to their room, he knocked lightly and waits. After a long moment, long enough that he was starting to wonder if they’ve already left, he hears a shuffle and the door slid open to reveal Pidge, still in their pajamas holding a similar tablet to his own. On the screen, Matt Holt stared up at him, looking so much like his sister Lance almost made a joke about twins.

“Am I interrupting?” He asked instead, smiling at the way Pidge tried to hide a yawn. “I can come back later.”

Pidge waved sleepily, stepping back to motion him inside.

“Matt was just telling me ‘bout his new girlfriend.” Pidge explained as Lance drops into one of their chairs. “Took her home to meet the family.”

“How’d that go?” Lance asked, peering down at the tablet Pidge handed him.

“About as well as I expected, given that Iss’ool has four arms. Mum says it’s like getting two hugs at once, though, so I think she’s happy. Took a little longer with the extended.”

“Not every day your little boy brings home an alien.”

“Big words.” Matt returned, grinning unrepentantly as Pidge snerked.

“That’s why I’m here, actually.” Lance said, watching in amusement as both Holts stopped laughing to stare at him. Pidge broke first.

“Finally got your head out of your ass, hmm?” They asked, dropping their chin onto one hand to smirk at him. “I was wondering when you three would man up. Did you make the first move? No, wait, it was Shiro wasn’t it?”

“Keith, actually. Please tell me you weren’t making bets. It’s bad enough that the entire Blade of Marmora have been watching us like a soap opera, I don’t need that from you guys too.”

“Weeelll… not everyone.” Pidge hedged as Matt coughs. “Just us and Allura. Coran and Hunk haven’t said anything but they’ve probably noticed.” Lance sighed.

“Right, good to know we’re entertaining at least.”

“Don’t feel bad. Once you guys finish mooning, everyone will move on to Coran and Kolivan.”

“Coran and Kol… _what_?! When did that happen?!”

Pidge’s smirk widened into a full-blown grin.

“Since at least the end of the war. Please, you can’t tell me you haven’t seen them making eyes. When Coran demonstrated that Altean flip last month, Kolivan nearly jumped him.”

“ _How can you tell_? The dude is a statue! I’ve seen birds land on him.”

“It’s all about the ears.” Matt chimed in from below, smile nearly as wide as his sister’s. “With Galra, they’re just about everything. And if the ears don’t tell you, watch their claws. They’re very expressive.”

Lance tried to picture Coran and Kolivan together before jerking his thoughts to stop before he strained something.

“Wow, ok, yeah that would definitely take the attention off… whatever is going on with us. More power to them, I guess.”

“So, what brings you to me?” Pidge askd, taking the tablet back from him. “I’m not going to hack the castle cameras for you. Last time was _more_ than enough, thanks.”

“No!” Lance snaps, glaring at them. “And thanks for reminding me! Just when were you going to tell me that you gave that… that video clip to Shiro!” Blushing, he crossed his arms and tried to give his teammate a firm glare. Difficult to do, since they were too busy laughing to look at him.

“Aw, poor Lance.” Pidge said without a lick of compassion. “Don’t worry, he’ll take good care of it, I promise.” They paused. “Wait, he showed it to you? When did that happen?”

He could feel his blush darken until his cheeks felt like they were on fire.

“Yesterday. We… actually, that’s sort of why I’m here.”  

Pidge cocked their head.

“Why you’re he…” They trail off, eyes widening.

There is a moment of silence as the Holt siblings stare at him with various degrees of horror.

“You came to me for _romantic advice_?” Pidge asked, sounding half way between bewildered and horrified, as Matt began to howl with laughter. “Me? Lance, my idea of a romance is spending the night with a new computer. I don’t do…” they shudder, “ _people._ ”

“Yes, thanks, I know that.” Lance rolled his eyes. “Pretty sure everyone who has ever met you knows that.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his own tablet, taping its screen until a holographic image appeared above it. Setting the tablet on the table, he pushed it until they could both see it. Pidge studied the blueprints, riveted.

“This is what I need your help with. I promise, its much cooler than flowers and some candy.”

Adjusting their glasses, Pidge leaned closer to get a better look. On the screen, Matt cranes his head to do the same.

“Well now, this I can do. When do we start?”

“Now, preferably. If you aren’t too busy?” Lance twisted his sleeve, suddenly feeling shy. “I know Allura had some things she wanted you to work on.”

“They’ll keep.” Pidge waved away his concern. “We’re going to need Hunk though, if you want this bit to work.”

“Already done, I sent him a message before I came over. So you think it’s good?”

Pidge and Matt grin at him.

“It’s perfect.” They said together.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter, woot woot! Conversation and progress for all. Only one more chapter, in which I will earn my M rating ;), and then I'll be working on my Coran/Kolivan fic. That one will hopefully go a little more into what's happening on Earth and answer a few questions about what exactly the Blue Lion was doing on Earth.

Lance pressed a hand against his leg, pushing down to keep it from bouncing with nervous energy. Just a few more minutes, he told himself firmly, just a little while longer. He glanced up at the clock. Just a minute past the hour. He was fine, everything was fine.

Taking deep breaths, he forced himself to run through his notes one more time. Mentally working his way through the pre-flight checklist. It wasn’t hard, he had the whole thing memorized by now. Oh, he thought, suddenly panicking, what if they asked him about coordinates. What was the equation again? Oh god, he had forgotten everything, he was going to fail, what was he eve—

“Lance McClain?” The receptionist called out, jerking him out of his thoughts.

“Me!” He stuttered, jumping to his feet. “Uh, I mean yes?”

The woman gave him a bored look and motioned him towards the large double doors at the end of the room.

“Your time has started, please move to the interview room.”

“Right, thanks.” The thirteen-year-old mumbled, bright red. He shuffled past her quickly and ducked into the room. Behind him he could hear the snickering of a few other potential cadets, kicking their feet idling in the waiting room. The heavy doors closed behind him with a quiet snick, cutting the sound off like a switch. Nervously, he turned and faced the room.

It was empty save for two bland, pleasant chairs in front of a bland, pleasant desk behind which sat a small, thinnish man. The man nodded, waving a hand from him to take a seat. Jerking forward, almost tripping over his feet, the preteen managed to throw himself somewhat gracefully into the chair.

“Well, then,” the man said, his voice matching the dull tan of the wall behind him. “welcome to the Garrison Mr. McClain. Shall we begin the interview?”

“Andreu.”

The man paused. “I beg your pardon?” His words were polite enough but he could hear the faint disapproval most adults got when they felt that children were not being as respectful as they should be.

Lance blushed.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, horrified that he might have ruined his chance. “It’s my name. My name is Lance _Andreu_ McClain. Two last names.”

The man blinked and then looked down, shuffling the papers in his hands until he suddenly froze, an odd look coming over his face.

“Andreu. As in Lelio Andreu Cabeza? The World War III pilot?” The man asked, his voice a little high. Lance was used to this reaction, had seen it before. It never failed to make his chest nearly burst with pride.

“Yeah, that’s my grandpa.”

“I see,” the man said with a small cough. “I suppose that it would only make sense for you to join the Garrison, as he is one of our best alumni.”

“Right,” Lance kicked his feet, warming up to the topic. “Grandpa’s the best and he said that if I want to be a pilot there isn’t anywhere better than the Galaxy Garrison.”

The man smiled, a bright shallow thing that made Lance hesitate before smiling back.

“I believe he toured the campus not too long ago.” The man leaned forward, clasping his hands together on the top of the desk. “We’ve been working on a revolutionary new flight simulator. Very prestigious. I believe your grandfather was one of its main sponser.”

Lance nodded, feeling a little lost. “Uh, yeah, I think my mother said something about that. Grandpa likes to donate.”

“Of course,” said the man, clapping his hands together. “what better way to support our future. Well, welcome to the Garrison, Lance.” He stood, holding out his hand for Lance to take.

Lance gapped at him, shaking the offered hand on instinct.

“Wait, what?” He asked dumbly, “What about my interview?”

The man waved a hand airily. “Not to worry, there can be no doubt of your place with us. We’re always looking for talented individuals such as yourself. Now run along.” He paused, “Oh, my name is Dr. Adam Wendels, by the way. Please let your grandfather know how excited I am to have you at our school.”

Lance allowed himself to be herded out the door, numbly stepping to the side to make way for the next kid. Swallowing, he looked at the clock. He had been in the room for less than fifteen minutes.

But he had passed.

Right?

 

-~-

 

“Do you think this is a joke?” Shouted his teacher, slamming one meaty hand against the desk, causing Lance to flinch and sink deeper into his chair. “I wouldn’t put you in charge of running baby bunnies with those scores, Cadet, I’ve seen better instincts from my daughter’s pet rock!”

Lance groaned, letting the sharp words flow past him as he concentrated on his pounded headache. Staying up late last night had, in the end, been a pretty dumb decision. Not only had been barely been able to stay away during his simulating text, he had forgotten everything he had stayed up to study. No amount of last minute cramming had been enough to prevent him from slamming his ship nose first into the ground, killing him and his entire crew. Again.

Sighing, he rubbed his forehead before realizing the noise had stopped. Glancing up, he found his teacher staring him down, looking angrier by the second if the purple-red color of his face was anything to go by.

“My apologies, Sir.” He muttered, looking back down. “It won’t happen again.”

“That’s the biggest pile of shit I’ve heard all week,” he teacher said with an ugly laugh. “You couldn’t fly your way out of a paper bag and everyone here knows it. The _only_ reason you’re still here, Andreu, is your goddamn grandfather. So get your head out of your ass and maybe, _maybe_ , you’ll graduate to do something useful, like working public transit. Get out of my sight, you’re dismissed.”

“Yes, sir.” Lance snapped before turning and leaving the room as quickly as he could without looking like he was running away. “Asshole.” He added quietly when the door was firmly shut behind him. Blinking away the sudden heat in his eyes, he headed down the hall towards his dorm, willing himself not to burst into tears before he reached his room. He needed… Hunk. And a shit ton of chocolate. And a fucking head massage before his skull burst open like a watermelon.

Head up, shoulders back, he forced himself to walk across the common room at a leisurely pace, waving at a few of his classmates.

“Hey man,” said one, a taller boy who he was pretty sure had been flirting with him at last week’s party. “Heard Commander Hardass pulled you into his office.” The boy said with honest sympathy. “That fucking blows.”

“God, I hate him,” added a girl on his left, an ex-girlfriend from a few years ago. “His body might be nothing but muscle but his soul is an empty husk made of leather and the salt of our tears. Let me guess, he gave you the speech about letting down the Garrison reputation.”

“No wait,” said the boy, “the one about the future of mankind.”

“Neither,” said Lance with a forced laugh. “Just the same old story about being destined for working the shuttle system.” He ran a hand over his hair and smiled brightly at the two of them. “Which we all know I’m much too beautiful for.”

Predictably, they both started laughing, nudging him good-naturedly and assuring him that the shuttles only wished they could find someone as attractive as him. It was a nice gesture but it didn’t do much for the pain in his chest. Before he could ask them if they had seen Hunk, a loud crowd of people entered the room.

Somehow, he was not surprised to see Keith Kogane at the center of it, lording over his fans with his gorgeous, smug face. 

“What’s that about?” He asked, not really wanting to know the answer. “Did he finally get a new haircut.”

“Broke a record, I think.” Said the boy with a shrug. “Heard the upperclassmen talking about it a couple hours ago.

“I’ve seen him fly,” added the girl, smiling dreamily at the chaos across the room. “Guy flies like a bird.”

“Oh, I know,” another girl jumped in, sliding into the seat next to her friend. “I’d love to see what else he can do with those hands.” She smiled up at Lance, who was rubbing his chest. “Don’t you have Aviation Coordination with him, Andreu McClain?”

“Yeah.” Lance shoved his hands in his pockets and forcibly turned his back on the crowd. “And its McClain. Just McClain.”

 

-~-

 

“You know, if you keep that up you’re going to suffocate and I don’t really want to find out if their weird alien fish tank thing can heal that.”

The newly minted yellow paladin, shuffled sideways until he could get comfortable without risking the integrity of their blanket fort. Across from him, Lance lay face down in a pile of pillows, letting out a long, muffled shriek of pure glee.

“Huuuunk.” Lance moaned, pushing his head out of the pillow until he could see his friend. “Hunk, we’re in _space_. We’re in _space_ with _Takashi Shirogane_. This is the greatest day of my life!”

“Uh _no_ , this is not the greatest day of anyone’s life.” Hunk corrected him around a handful of some alien-nuts that Coran had fished out of storage. “We’re trapped on a weird planet, with weird aliens, with weird alien food-goo. “This is like the fourth or fifth not-greatest-day at least.”

“Hunk, it’s Shiro! Shiro is our leader! He’s alive and we’re going to fight evil together, this is great!”

“As someone who didn’t have his poster on his wall for like, forever—

“Two years is not forever.”

“— I think I can honestly say that this is _not_ great. We’re totally going to die. In space.”

“Don’t be such a wet blanket,” Lance hummed at him, stealing a handful of the precious snacks. “We’ve got giant, kick-ass cat space ships. We beat one giant robot and we’re going to beat them all.”

“Sure, sure, whatever you say. I’m just saying,”

“Ugh, whatever. You gloom and doom over there while I stay over here and bask in the greatness.”

Whatever Hunk had been about to say was cut off by the sudden whoosh of the common room doors, followed by the sound of raised voices.

“—n’t tell you, what was I supposed to say? ‘Hi Human, I’m from another planet. Nice to meet you. Please don’t turn me in the authorities’.”

“You know I would have never done that!”

Inside their blankets, Lance and Hunk froze, sharing a single awkward look. Would it be worse to stay silent and let Shiro and Keith continue what was obvious a _very_ private conversation or let them know they weren’t alone?

Hunk opened his mouth, barely getting a sound out before Lance slapped his hand over it, holding finger to his lips. Silently he shook his head and pointed towards the back of the fort where there was a small opening. If they were quiet, they could sneak out and through the door to the kitchens without their teammates ever knowing they were here. Slowly, Hunk nodded.

“It’s bigger than me,” Keith was saying now as they crawled away. “It’s bigger than all of us. I couldn’t tell you, it would have risked everything.” Lance had never heard the other cadet ever sound like that. Like he was in pain and was desperately trying to keep it together.

The whole team knew the basics. That he was secretly an alien, the same alien as their enemies no less, and had contacted his family to save Shiro when he had gone missing. Shiro hadn’t gone into a lot of detail but whatever information he had given Allura had been enough for her to accept Keith as the red paladin. Not that they had passed that information on to the rest of the team, but whatever.

“I’m sorry, Keith. You’re right, that wasn’t fair.”

Hunk was passed the doors now, crawling off into the empty kitchen. Lance grabbed the door before it could swing shut and paused. The two behind him were quiet now and, against his better judgement, he turned to look over his shoulder.

They were kissing.

Shiro and Keith were _kissing._ And not just kissing, they were full on swoon kissing like the cheesy rom vids his grandpa watched, clutching at each other like they were worried someone was going to rip them apart.

A little like his heart, actually.

Quietly, he shut the door.

 

-~-

 

Shakily, Lance reached up to hit the buzzer before jerking his hand back and running it through his hair in frustration. Groaning silently under his breath, he took a step back, paced half a length sideways, paused, turned back and stared at the door.

He wasn’t really sure why he was nervous, Shiro had been pretty clear that they were interested. All they were waiting on was him, apparently, him and his goddamn nervous. At his feet, a large bag lay innocently against the wall, near to bursting at the seams. He glared at it, then back at the door, before reaching up to hit the buzzer again.

Before his hand could meet the button, however, the door opened with a soft whoosh of displaced air. Keith stood in the doorway, not meeting Lance’s eyes, with his arms crossed over his chest.

“You’ve been out here for ten minutes.” Keith said to the floor in a short, clipped tone. Lance’s heart dropped.

He had taken too long. He had told them he wanted to wait a couple days but obviously they had talked it over and changed their minds and here he was, standing in the hallway like a complete idiot. Why had he thought he could do this? He was so stupid, missing this chance and oh god, what was he supposed to do now. He was—

Keith huffed, grabbing a fistful of his shirt and dragging him into the room.

“Whatever you’re thinking, stop it.” He muttered, “I can see you panicking, it’s all over your face.”

“I… I mean, its not—“

Keith sighed and let go in favour of pushing him towards Shiro who was hovering by the table with a hopeful smile. He looked so painfully happy to see Lance that the blue paladin could feel his brain short out a little.

“Hi.” He said dumbly, grabbing on to the back of a chair like a lifeline. Then he blushed. “Shit, sorry. I guess you guys haven’t, uh, changed your minds?”

“Never.” Shiro said, coming closer. When Lance didn’t pull away, Shiro gathered him up into a hug, tucking Lance’s head under his chin. “We’re really happy you came.”

“Even if it took forever,” Keith added, placing Lance’s oversized bag on the table with a gentle thump. “What do you have in here, rocks?”

Above him, Shiro sighed. There was a ripple of muscle under his cheek and then Keith was in the hug with him, pressed up under his other arm, nose to nose with Lance.

Keith huffed.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you.” He said after a moment, eyes not quite meeting Lance’s. “I…. overreacted.”

“It’s cool,” Lance said automatically. “I wasn’t worried or anything.” He tried to smile only to be met with twin looks of disbelief.

“Fucking stars.” Keith muttered, pressing his face into one of Shiro’s amazing pecs.

“Lance, you don’t have to lie to us.” Shiro directed them towards the love seat, adjusting them until Lance was in the middle, back pressed against Shiro’s side and Keith’s hand in his. They were so close, Lance could almost feel every move they made. He tried to tell himself to play it cool, but each tiny flex of muscle sent a blast of heat to his cheeks until he was sure that he looked like an overcooked lobster.

“It did bother you.” Keith said, “You cried.”

“I did not—“ Lance twisted to pin Shiro with a glare. “I did _not_ cry, not that it matters because crying is very manly, but what did you tell him?!”

Shiro smiled sheepishly. “I didn’t, I mean I mentioned that you were upset, I don’t know if I said ‘cried’ exactly.” He wilted a little. “Sorry.”

Lance sighed, dropping his head back to Shiro’s shoulder. “No, it’s… ok. I was upset.” He sat up to look at Keith, grabbing the other paladin’s hands earnestly. “I’m sorry too, I didn’t mean… did Shiro explain?”

“More or less. I don’t really get why you thought we didn’t want you. It seemed pretty clear to me.” He glared at nothing in particular. “Humans are weird.”

“Just means you fit right in.” Shiro said warmly, nudging his boyfriend with one foot. Keith rolled his eyes, a small smile flitting over his face.

“Sure, whatever.” He looked away for a moment and then back at Lance, smile dropping into something more serious. “So are we all on the same page now? We want you, you want us, nobody gets left out.”

Lance started to nod and then hesitated.

Keith stared at him for a moment, eyes darting to Shiro’s, and then back to Lance.

“How could I possibly get more clear than that. I. Want. Us. To Fuck.” He grabbed Lance’s shirt and shook him a little, batting away Shiro’s hand when it tried to intervene. “Dating, cuddling, fighting about _dishes_. Why do humans make this so hard?” He added the last bit with a tiny whine that made Lance smile despite himself. Carefully, he reached up and unhooked Keith’s hand, shyly lacing their fingers together and cheering inwardly when the other paladin let him.

“I get that part.” Lance assured him. “Loud and clear, my man. Fucking is great, A+. I just don’t get, well, why? Why add me, you guys are pretty good all on your own.”

Keith opened his mouth, paused, shut it, and turned to Shiro. “I don’t know how to explain this.” He said honestly, with a shrug.

Shiro chuckled, pushing Lance until they could face each other. “We don’t want to date you because we’re unfinished,” Shiro said seriously, placing his hand over Lance’s where it curled with Keith’s. “We want to date you because you’re our friend and we love you. It’s not Keith and I with you as an afterthought, it’s a new relationship with all three of us. It’s not going to be easy, no relationship is, but I’m willing to fight for it if you are?” On Lance’s other side, Keith let out a short grunt of agreement and pressed his face into his neck. Lance wrapped an arm around him, head spinning in dizzy circles. He had known, sort of, but having it laid out so bluntly was…

He blinked and was embarrassed to realize that he was tearing up. Carefully, he pushed Keith aside and jumped to his feet. Neither made a move to follow him, only staring up at him with mild concern.

“Ok, right. I— Gifts!” Lance shouted suddenly, almost tripping over himself to get his bag from the table. “And dinner. Antok said that was important.” Setting the warm containers of food to the side, he grabbed his offerings and stumbled back to the couch, nearly tossing the packages into their laps in his haste. Luckily, he caught himself before he could drop them. Fortunate, as Keith’s present was not only long, but rather heavy.

Shiro blinked at his own present. “You didn’t have to get me anything.” He said, even as he cradled the gift to his chest. “I’m not Galra.”

“I know.” Lance mumbled, cheeks blazing. “I just… wanted to. I’m courting both of you, right?”

Keith grinned, leaning forward to lick a sudden stripe across the underside of Lance’s jaw and laughing when the blue paladin squawked in surprise.

“Thank you,” He said politely, “I’m honoured by your attention.” And then he was ripping into the paper. Brushing the strips way, he reached into the mess and pulled out a long black sword.

“I know you mostly use your mom’s sword and your bayard.” Lance explained awkwardly, “but I thought you could add this one to your collection. Just be careful when you hold it because if you put your thumb on the—

He broke off as a sudden bolt of energy shot out of the blade and slammed into the wall, leaving behind a smoking black hole.

“Uh, that happens.” He finished weakly.

Keith’s eyes were huge as he held the sword reverently in two hands, thumb carefully away from the hilt.

“This is a _laser_ _sword_.” He said a little breathlessly.

“Yeah, your dad said you like lasers. Also something about robots but I uh, didn't ask for any details.”

Keith nodded, twisting the blade to catch it in the light.

“Did you make this?” He asked quietly. Lance shrugged.

“Not really, the design is your dad’s after I asked him how to make it and Pidge and Hunk did most of the building. I choose the color though.” He added proudly.

Keith set the sword aside and pulled Lance forward to kiss him deeply. When he finally pulled away, Lance took a deep gasp of air, grinning from ear to ear.

“You totally like it. Dude, I’m the best gift giver in the universe. I’ve got this courting thing down.” He fluffed his jacket with a cocky flick to hid the way his fingers shook. Keith smirked.

“Don’t get too full of yourself… but yeah, I like it. It’s a great gift.”

Next to them Shiro let out a tiny cough.

“I feel like I should say something about not using that outside of the training room,” he said when they both turned to look at him, “but I’m sure Allura won’t mind just this once as long as we don’t add any more holes to her castle.”

“Bossy.” Muttered Keith but he dutifully set the sword next to the couch, setting to gently against the wall so it wouldn’t roll away. Shiro smiled, fingers rubbing the paper of his own gift in soft circles.

“Can I open mine now?” He asked Lance.

Lance blushed. “It’s your gift,” he said with an overly casual shrug, “you can open it whenever you want.”

“So you’d be fine if I wanted until next week, right?” Shiro teased even as he pushed a finger under the paper and carefully pried it open. “Because I’m suddenly really hungry, we should eat.”

“Just open it before you give me a heart attack.” Lance grumbled, leaning forward to rest his head on Keith’s knee. He suddenly felt so tired, but in a good way. As a weight was gone that he hadn’t even realized was there.

Above him, he could hear a tiny, almost silent, sudden intake of air. Turning his head, he looked up to find the older man staring at the thin black tablet in his hands.

“This… is a galran tablet.” The black paladin said after a moment, the screen lighting up under his touch.

“I got it from Ulaz.” Lance explained, eyes darting from Shiro to Keith, who was peering over Shiro’s shoulder to see the screen. “It’s everything. Medical records, camera footage, interviews with ex-prisoners. Everything they could find. I know it doesn’t make up for not remembering it but I thought it’d be nice to have it all in one place. Oh,” he twisted until he could lean his arms against the seat cushion, and see over Shiro’s arm. “also, there’s some stuff from Earth. Like your award ceremony and your graduation. Some pictures from your grandma that she thought you’d like to have.”

Shiro silently flicked through the data, looking a little damp around the eyes. Lance wasn’t sure what he’d do if Shiro started crying, he didn’t think he was prepared for that. As he mulled over the possibility, Shiro suddenly froze, fingers hovering in mid-air.

“You added crochet patterns.” He said dumbly, turning to look at Lance in surprise. “How did you know I crochet? I haven’t done that since I was a kid.”

“Uh, your grandma was really talkative.” Lance said with an embarrassed wave. Then he grinned. “She did take the time to show me all the blankets you made. I really liked the one with bunnies. Very manly.”

“Pink is a great color.” Shiro said loftily. “It’s very attractive.”

“Absolutely.” Lance agreed solemnly. “I would never doubt such a master.”

“You can do this?” Keith asked, flicking through the pictures of a tiny Shiro holding up a blanket proudly for the camera. You made that?”

Shiro smiled, pausing on a picture of him and an elderly woman.

“It’s been a while but… yeah. I could make one some time. Can’t be too hard to find yarn now that the war’s over. I’ll make a pink one just for you, Lance.” He added with a sly smile.

Smiling so wide it almost hurt, Lance watched Shiro explain to Keith how crocheting worked and the different patterns he had used. Even as they talked, Shiro had one hand on the back of Lance’s neck and Keith’s foot was pressed against his thigh. It was… warm, comfortable. Somehow, it felt like he had always been here and had always belonged. He didn’t know where this was going but… he couldn’t imagine a better start.

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, hope you guys were wanting smut because this is a lot hotter than I had originally expected! Thank you for sticking with me to the end everyone, I loved all your comments!

Lance watched the ship disappear into the twilight sky high above the castle, sipping at the warm mug of something alien and spicy in his hands. Below him the city of Alfor stretched into the sunset, the soft blue rays turning the white buildings into a rolling sea of light. It… wasn’t home but it was soothing all the same.

“I’m surprised you’re still here,” said a familiar voice from the room behind him, “would have thought we’d have to fish you out of the cargo bay by now.” Keith stepped up on the small balcony, leaning into Lance’s side like the heat-leech he was. Lance smiled, allowing the smaller man to push under his arm, looping it over Keith’s shoulders and pulling him in.

“Nah,” He said with a cocky grin. “Hard to keep up with your skin care when you’re stowing away in a box of freeze dried goo. A man has to have some standards.” Keith snorted, no doubt rolling his eyes. Around his waist, Keith’s arm tightened, pulling them closer. They stood like that in silence for a moment, both watching the sun until it disappeared beyond the skyline.

“I’m sorry you couldn’t go home for your birthday.” Keith said quietly after the glow began to fade. Above him, Lance twitched, almost letting go before dropping his face onto Keith’s hair.

“It’s not a big deal.” He muttered, closing his eyes with a sigh. “You heard Allura, three more months and then we can have some time off. That’s barely any time at all.”

Keith twisted beneath him until they were chest to chest, Lance’s nose still buried in his hair. Pressing his lips to Lance’s neck in a move somewhere between a kiss and a lick, he wiggled his hands until they were up and under Lance’s shirt, resting on the soft curve of his hips.

Lance froze, pulling back to look Keith in the eye. The red paladin was smirking, kneading his hands into Lance’s sides. Despite the way his thumbs brushed against his stomach, Lance thought he could see a faint hint of shyness lurking the back of Keith’s eyes.

It wasn’t that they had never… done anything. It was hard to count how many times they had spent mapping each other out until every curve was burned into his brain It was just that by mutual agreement they had waited to go too far, wanting time to adjust to a relationship that was worth more than sex.

Lance coughed, blood rushing to his face even as it shot down with every brush of Keith’s long fingers. Keith’s smirk got a little wider, his hands trailing upward even as he bit his lip. Biting back a moan as he felt Keith, already hard, rub against the growing arousal in his jeans.  

“Are… are you sure?” He asked, stuttering slightly at a particularly clever roll of Keith’s hips.

“Are you?” Keith challenged, smiling as Lance’s hands automatically dropped to his ass. He was making a low purring noise, a consistent rumble of pleasure. When he spoke, it hid just under his voice making the words seem almost like a threat. A really, really – oh shit, that was a hand in his pants now— really interesting threat. It made the unevolved lizard part of Lance’s brain want to roll over and expose his stomach.

“Ye- yes?” He didn’t have time to be embarrassed by the squeak in his voice before Keith was herding him backwards with nothing but a hand on his chest and another under his pants, kneading one side of his ass. The walked until Lance felt the soft side of the bed hit the back of his knees and he tumbled backwards, Keith following him down, mouth latched to the skin above his collarbone.

“Were you—“ Lance asked, as Keith sat back up to pull his shirt over his head, “were you planning this?”

Keith hummed as Lance reached up and ran his hands over the thick muscles of his chest, fingers running lightly over the sensitive skin around his scars. “Not jus— shit, your nose is kinda cold— not just me. This is a team effort.”

Lance laughed, burying his nose, which yes was a little cold, into Keith’s belly button.

“I’m not going to have to worry about Hunk and Pidge walking in with a cake, am I?” He squeaked again as Keith pressed a cold toe to the back of his knee. They wrestled for a moment before getting Lance’s shirt off, fighting to keep cold appendages out of warm, sensitive areas.

Breathing hard, Lance flopped back against the bed, sighing in defeat as Keith straddled his waist, ass nestled in the dip between his thighs.

“I surrender,” He announced as Keith did something that rubbed their cocks together through a few layers of fabric. “Do with me as you wish, evil alien scum.”

Keith pretended to think about it, reaching down to pinch one of Lance’s nipples, twisting it lightly until the blue paladin gasped.

“I’m not sure anymore,” he said thoughtfully, “you’re not very obedient.”

Lance opened his mouth to declare that it wasn’t his problem if Keith couldn’t handle him but was cut off by a warm mouth descending, pulling him into a warm, wet haze as a tongue slipped into his mouth. He pushed forward, enjoying the heat until his lungs felt like they were going to burst. Pulling back, he panted, staring up at Shiro’s smiling face.

“I think between the two of us we can show him the benefits to behaving.” Shiro said with a serious look that was only slightly ruined by the deep flush covering his cheeks. He leaned over to kiss Keith deeply, keeping one hand on Lance’s head.

Above him, Keith shuddering, the motion driving his hips down until Lance could feel starbursts of pleasure running up his spine. His hips jerked up instinctively, almost knocking the smaller man off him. The fingers in his hair tightened to the perfect degree of pleasure, keeping him from moving too far. He should have never let Shiro figure that out, he told himself even as he went limp under their leader’s grip.

“Is this what you meant by a team effort?” he asked when they came up for air again. Shiro brushed a kiss against his cheek and leaned down to pick something up off the floor.

“Hmm, well, forty percent of it, anyways.” Shiro agreed, coming up back with a bag. Keith grinned and swing a leg over until he was kneeling at Lance’s side. Scooting back, Lance sat up until he could rest against the headboard, legs twitching as he debated on whether he should try to hide the fullness of his cock currently trying to escape his pants.

“Forty percent is perfect.” Lance announced, finally deciding to go with casually resting one arm on a bent knee. “The best number, actually. Whatcha got there?” He leaned forward, trying to see into the bag without being too obvious about it.

Keith, who was slipping his pants off until he was entirely and completely unabashedly naked, reached over and dumped the entire contents onto the bed before Shiro could answer. Shiro muttered something to Keith over his head but Lance didn’t catch it, too busy staring at the truly _awe-inspiring_ amount of… well, toys that tumbled out over the covers. It looked a little like Shiro had raided an alien sex shop. A kinky one, he thought, staring in hopeless fascination at a toy that looked like it had crawled out of the void and wanted to say hello.

“Uhhh…” he said intelligently, feeling his cheeks begin to heat. “I know I said I have a lot of experience but I, uh, I’m not sure _anyone_ would have enough time to use all of these. I like the optimism though.” Against his better judgement, he leaned down a picked up one of the more mundane looking toys only to drop it with a sudden jerk when it curled around his fingers of its own volition. “Shit!”

Keith laughed, picking it up and popping it against his chin. Lance watched in fascination as it curled over his lip and slid inside his mouth. His cock, which had already been ready to go for a while now, was suddenly so hard it hurt. “ _Shit_.”

“That’s a Galra one,” Shiro explained and Lance looked back to find the older man rearranging the toys into neat rows across the blanket. “It’s not alive, it’s just heat activated.”

“Right,” Lance said weakly, eyes darting back to where Keith was setting the toy with its companions. “So?”

Shiro kissed him again, a short, sweet press of his lips against Lance’s.

“Most of these Keith and I have used as some point and we picked the ones we thought you’d find the most interesting. You’re right about the time, though, so if you want, pick a couple that you like.” He pulled his own shirt off, tossing it on the floor and giving Lance a filthier look than Lance had ever imagined his shining hero could make.

“Or none at all,” Keith added, leaning in to suck on Lance’s neck. “It’s up to you.”  

“I’m kinda impressed that you’re implying you have more of these.” Lance said after a moment of enjoying Keith’s attention.

“You’d be amazed at some of the things you can find.” Shiro said, waving at a toy that was… yep, definitely modelled after Voltron.

Shiro laughed at Lance’s expression and crawled over the toys, careful not to disturb them, until he was on Keith’s other side.

“Let him get a moment to think.” He chastised, pulling Keith closer. Keith went happily, for which Lance was grateful as it gave him enough blood in his brain to examine the spread before him.

Some of the toys looked like they might be from Earth. There was a nubby blue plug that curved in a way that definitely looked good. He paused, picking it up and turning it to catch the light, imagining what it would look like. It was the exact same shade as Blue which, if he was being honest with himself, was a much bigger turn on than he had thought. Setting it to the side, he glanced back at the others.

They weren’t all penetrative. A few soft looking whips, a sleek wooden paddle, and a couple silky scarves caught his eye. He studied them for a moment before deciding to leave the whips and paddles for another time. This wouldn’t be his last opportunity, he assured himself firmly, glancing over at the soft smiles Shiro and Keith were giving him.

Smiling back, he picked up a scarf, admiring the way it slipped through his fingers. It would make a good blindfold, he thought, or… he tugged firmly on both ends, enjoying the strength of the material. Perfect. He set it next to the plug. One more, he decided. If he waited any longer, he was going to explode in a pool of sexual tension which would definitely ruin the mood. Not to mention an embarrassing trip to the healing pods.

He stared at the rest of the toys, biting his lip. He could pick that one…. He was pretty sure it was a tentacle but the base looked nice and wide. Or, that one had a slick look to it that was more tempting than he had thought at first look. Did it even need lube? Oh wait, what was that one…?

He groaned with frustration before dropping the toys he had been looking at.

“I can’t pick,” he admitted, giving his boyfriends a sad look. Keith laughed, leaning over to kiss him.

“That’s ok,” Shiro said, rubbing his thigh. “You don’t to have more than two things, why don—“

The rest of his sentence was lost as a sudden thought came to Lance. “Wait,” he said, cutting Shiro off, “pick one for me.”

The thought of Shiro and Keith looking over the toys with him in mind was… he bit his lip again, hand going to his cock. Shiro blinked before smiling wickedly. Next to him Keith was purring again, pressing himself against Lance’s side like a cat.

“Preference?” The red paladin asked, voice barely above a growl. Lance trembled slightly. The shyness he had seen earlier was gone now, replaced by a very hungry look. It made his legs feel like rubber.

“No…” Lance stuttered, leaning into the contact. “Just pick your favourite.”

Keith pulled him down into another kiss, hands reaching to shove at his pants. Lance gave into the demands, pulling them off with only a tiny bit of self-consciousness. Any lingering shyness was burned away by the feeling of Keith’s fingers wrapping around his cock, tugging it slowly. He groaned, pressing his face into Keith’s neck as he reached down to return the favour.

Unlike his own, Keith’s cock was slightly tapered at the end though it was human enough in colour, with a foreskin that pulled back with each stroke.

Lance dipped his hand lower, reaching down to press against Keith’s ass, only slightly surprised to find it give easily around the two fingers he pressed inside. Keith moaned as Lance played with the slick opening.

“Just how long were you preparing?” Lance asked breathlessly. Keith smirked at him without answering, choosing instead to lean down and bite lightly at Lance’s shoulder when the blue paladin added a third finger.

“A while.” Shiro tattled, reaching in between them to wrap around both their cocks together, giving them a couple short pumps. “Are you ready for this?” He asked, tapping a normal looking plug against Lance’s lips.

He blinked in surprise. He had actually been expecting something a little more alien from the guy with an obvious fascination for tentacles. He waved the thought away, sticking his tongue out to give the toy an impulsive lick which earned him a pair of breathy moans.

“I was born ready,” He declared, his smirk only slightly ruined by the jerk of his hips as Keith pulled back to give Shiro room.  

Lance leaned back on his elbows, legs bent, feeling more exposed than he had ever felt with any of his previous relationships. There was just something about Shiro and Keith that was just… more. More everything. It was like being swept into an undertow but one that felt like he never wanted to be anywhere else. A feeling that intensified when Shiro leaned down and wrapped his lips around the head of Lance’s cock, rubbing the underside with his tongue. The sudden heat made Lance jerk and would have pulled himself completely free if it hadn’t been for the firm hand Shiro had on the inside of his hip.

Keith laughed, coming around to pull Lance back into their kiss. Below them, Lance could faintly feel Shiro sucking him down, pressure just light enough to tease without actually getting him anywhere. Below that, stick fingers probed at his ass, pushing in with slow, firm strokes. Lance wasn’t sure how long he floated there, caught between the heat of their mouths and the relentless pleasure building up in his lower spine. He was so far gone he almost missed the thick slide of the plug as Shiro slipped it inside. It was impossible to miss, however, the sudden heat.

“Whoa,” He muttered, jerking his hips up in surprise as the plug heated to a temperature a few degrees above body heat. “Is it supposed to do that.”

Shiro hummed, pressing one last kiss to the soft skin above Lance’s cock. “It varies,” was all he said, pulling back to kiss Keith. The half-alien had a knowing look on his face that was slightly concerning. They both gave him an affectionate pat before pulling his other two choices closer.

“Red, nice choice.” Shiro praised, holding up the silk scarf. “Is this a blindfold or a rope?” He flicked it teasingly over Keith’s nipples, enjoying the way he shuddered.

“Blindf— blindfold.” Lance announced, watching Keith twitch. “for now.”

“Promises,” Keith said in a voice that was more growl than words, “I like that.” He tugged the scarf out of Shiro’s hands and moved to tie it over Lance’s face.

“Wait!” Lance exclaimed, holding him off. “First the plug.”

Shiro blinked, picking it up. “You… want two of them?” He asked, looking a little concern. Which, fair, Lance did not think he would be up for that, not without a _lot_ of practice. Lance laughed, reaching down to place a hand Shiro’s cock, suddenly feeling shy.

“Not me,” he said, not quite looking his leader in the eyes, “ _you_.”

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Keith grinning nearly from ear to ear, looking as satisfied as a cat. He leaned down and gave Lance a happy bite on the shoulder.

“Good idea,” he murmured, his pupils blown so wide his eyes looked black.

For a moment, Lance worried that Shiro was going to say no. That he had overstepped but that moment passed quickly when Shiro leaned down to press a hot, open mouthed kiss to his lips.

“Help me get it in?” He asked them both, leaning back as they both scrambled to their knees. Lance was proud that he only wobbled a little bit as his own plug shifted inside him, brushing up against his prostate.

Replacing Lance in his spot against the headboard, Shiro spread his legs and tipped his hips upward to give them better access.

“I’ll go low if you go high,” Lance whispered to Keith, already dipping to press a kiss to the twitching ring of muscle.

“I’ve got your back.” Keith agreed, taking Shiro in his mouth and sucking him down. Lance grinned against Shiro’s skin, mouthing his mouth like a kiss and sucking lightly.

It tasted like sweat and the industrial soap that Coran used to clean the pods. Lance licked his lip and leaned back a little.

“Did you… take Coran’s soap?” He asked, rolling the sour, astringent taste on his tongue. “You know that stuffs for cleaning rust?”

Shiro groaned, throwing his biological arm over his face. Keith, to his credit, was not pulling back and Lance was enjoying the way Shiro struggled to answer.

“Do— don’t like the soap Allura got.” He muttered into his elbow. “Too, ah! Too flowery. Smells like my… my grandma’s house.”

“So you buy sex toys but not soap?” Lance asked, grinning as Keith did something that made Shiro give an interesting half thrust.

“Are— shit— are you complaining?” Shiro asked, moving his arm to give Lance a half-hearted glare. “I think you have a job to do, paladin.”

“Sir, yes Sir.” Lance agreed, dropping back to his task. Now that he had had a moment to adjust, the taste of the soap was barely noticeable. At least not compared to the lube he dribbled onto his fingers and added to the mess as he used his tongue to work Shiro open.

It didn’t take long before he could slide the plug in slowly, enjoying the way Shiro’s muscles stretched around the blue bulb. When it settled inside, he leaned back to admire his colour against the pale expanse of Shiro’s skin.

“Mission accomplished.” He reported to Keith, who had moved to leaving dark purple bite marks in neat rows down Shiro’s pectoral muscles. They looked a little like suspenders, reaching from his hips all the way up to above his shoulders. Keith looked up from where he was lazily running his tongue over one and smiled.

Just as Keith started to sit up, Lance squeaked, slapping a hand to his stomach in surprise, squirming. Keith stared at him and then his smile dropped into a smirk.

Inside Lance, the plug was suddenly ice cold, making him cry out a little as it pressed against his prostate again.

“Looks like that’s our cue.” Keith said to Shiro as Lance wriggled, hand pressed to his stomach.

Shiro groaned and sat up, his thick cock flopping from his stomach to rest against one of his thighs, still shining wetly in the low light. Keith rolled off him and grabbed the scarf where it had fallen off the bed and tied it around Lance’s eyes with a quick, efficient movements.

“I see you’ve got a lot of experience with this,” Lance said turning his head from side to side to test the knot, trying to ignore the sudden heat below his legs chasing away the chill like a volcano.

Out of the darkness, Keith’s mouth met Lance’s neck, pressing teeth and tongue to the skin under his jaw.

“Next time,” the red paladin promised, “I’ll show you what Shiro looks like in nothing but silk.” Lance shuddered.

He let them press him to the bed, laying out on the soft mattress until he felt like he was floating, nothing but the plug inside him. Almost to prove him wrong, Keith straddled his hips again, guiding his cock up and sinking down until he was buried to the hilt. They groaned almost in unison as the tight heat clenched around Lance, squeezing him like a vice.

“Shit,” he said, unable to think as all the blood still in his head dropped to his groin. “Oh, shit.”

He could feel the plug moving inside him with each thrust, the thick toy feeling like a brand as it rubbed against his inner walls. It was almost too much and each snap of his hips sent bolts of lightening up and down his spine. After a moment, he could feel the plug starting to go cold again and nearly cried.

Shiro leaned down, kissing him deeply.

“Where do you want me?” He asked huskily, voice barely loud enough to hear over the sudden pounding in Lance’s ears.

“I want…” he panted as Keith began to move slowly, rolling his hips up and down. “I want you, my mouth, _please_.” He begged, aware on some level that things like grammar had completely left him. Shiro let out a small growl of satisfaction that almost sounded Galran, throwing a leg over Lance and hovering just above his chest, careful not to sit down completely and cut off the smaller man’s air supply.

Gently he pulled Lance’s face forward and Lance sucked hard, nearly choking on it in his haste. He was so ready, he felt like the slightest pressure would send him over the edge. The two seemed to work in sync, pushing and pulling like the tide.

Keith came first, letting out a cry as if taken by surprise. He continued moving though his orgasm, painting stripes of cum over Lance’s stomach even as Lance jerked his hips up.

The sound was what finished Lance off, a sudden spike of arousal that had him coming in short helpless jerks deep inside Keith. The red paladin groaned as Lance twitched below him.

After a few minutes Shiro followed, trying to pull back to give Lance some space. Lance followed him, clutching at the back of Shiro’s legs until he was coming down the back of Lance’s throat. Lance let out a little hum as he milked Shiro’s orgasm, only letting go when the cock on his tongue stopped twitching.

Panting, they lay together in a slightly uncomfortable sweaty mess, Keith in the middle with his boyfriends pressed on either side of him. Weakly, Keith leaned over and pulled off Lance’s scarf, giving a tiny lick to the underside of his jaw. On his chest, Shiro clasped Lance’s hand, their fingers intertwined.

“Happy Birthday.” Shiro said quietly, with a tired smile.

“The best.” Lance agreed, snuggling his face into Keith’s damp shoulder. “Give me about twenty minutes for a cat nap, though,” He added, giving Shiro a wink. “And I bet we can make it even better.”

 

THE END

**Author's Note:**

> So here is the new chapter of the updated story. In the first draft, I realized that I was writing the paladins like they were still teenagers even though its supposed to be several years after they defeat Zarkon. I also realized that Keith was wildly out of character and it was annoying the hell out of me. Hopefully, this time around they can be mature, rational adults as they step on each others toes and dance around the fact that they all want to get into each other's pants. Please let me know what you think of the update!


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